Orenji no Taiyou

[Taro Lawson]

Taro Lawson stretched his legs out as he yawned wide, the hum of his ship dying down as his brother next to him, stood and went to the controls on the left wall. Taro looked over at his back, then stood him self, and walked over, looking over his brother's shoulder to see the controls. Sighing, he put a hand on the boy's head.

"I am going to head out and see if we can't find a mechanic. This poor old thing needs a tune up," he said, speaking in thier native tongue of Japanese. His brother nodded mutely at him and Taro turned, going to the door of the cockpit and pressing his hand against a pressure plate next to the hatch. He hit it and the hatch hissed open and slowly lowered, steam clouding his vision from seeing anything. Coughing and waving his hand in front of his face, he began down the ramp, looking over his shoulder to look down the hall to see if anyone was coming. Seeing no one, he looked back through the cockpit door.

"Oh, and Jiro? If you see Jesimae, tell her to come out here. I imagine she'll want to stretch her legs a bit."

Continuing down the ramp, Taro jumped out onto the solid ground of the metal floors, looking about him, savoring the sounds of other people's voices. Now, he just had to find a mechanic. There was no way Jiro was going to be able to stabalize the engines. He had messed that up before.

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae yawned as she walked down the hallway where she had heard Taro speaking in Japanese. She hadn't taken the time to listen to his tone to see what was going on, but when she felt them dock and Taro head on out into the shipyard, whatever they were calling it these days.

She managed to make her way to the cockpit where she saw Jiro working his hands as he moved quickly preparing to shut down the ship. She smiled as she stood in the doorway and glanced at him.

"Morning, Jiro! Where did that brother of yours go?"

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro typed in a code hearing the computer respond to him and then initiate shut down, listening as the engines stopped and locked and the ship wound down. He smiled, pleased with himself for no good reason. He turned around to look at Jesimae and smiled, tugging on his rather uncomfortable leather jacket, unzipping it to get some air to his chest. He was burning alive.

"Yeah, he just went out. Think I am going to join him," Jiro strode over beside her, finally getting fed up with his jacket and pulling it off, feeling much better now that he was in the thin wife beater he had stolen from his brother. He stopped next to Jesimae, depositing the jacket on the floor and looking at her, smiling.

"Want to help me find him?"

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae smiled and nodded. "You bet."

Jesimae and Jiro walked out into the space port where she heard the familiar sounds of people hard at work. The heat was almost overwhelming for the bright overhead lights, tools, and hot ships and other means of transporation were being repaired. The scent of fuel tickled her nose and almost made her sick to her stomach for it was overbearing and very strong.

The two walked over to Taro who stood talking to a rather large man, asking for a good mechanic.

“Good mechanic, huh?” The man snorted in either laughter or disgust, it was hard to tell, but when he smiled his action became warm. “You all are in luck! Tattooine’s, hell maybe the whole galaxies, finest mechanic housed here just three weeks ago!” Jesimae was happy to hear such news knowing how hard it used to be to receive even half-assed tune ups and repairs. The thought of a good mechanic working on Taro and Jiro’s ship tickled her for she was one step closer to leaving her past behind, where it rightfully belonged.

“I do have to warn you though,” The man started to wipe his hands free of grease preparing to go and get the mechanic. “The Priest does miracles, but...the manner in which the miracles are done...” The man shook his head and waved a hand at them, dismissing what he had just warned, if one would call it that. “Be right back, see if I can’t get ‘em over here.” The large man turned and walked quite a ways from where the ‘Angry Lady’ was docked. The three of them slowly began to migrate where they watched the man go, ignoring his orders to stay put. They walked past three large ships to a small cruiser where all they could see were greased gray pants and black boots. Despite the noise of hammering, drilling, welding, and talking the music that gradually became louder as they grew closer deafened all other sounds.

“Priest!” The man yelled as he looked down at the boots then his own filthy pair. “Priest!” He screamed again. He waited a few seconds before yelling again his action causing Jesimae to roll her eyes, the man not seeming to understand the guy didn’t hear. Yet again he screamed, laughing after he got no response and glanced up at the three of them. “I hate to...” Jesimae frowned at his words and watched him glare at the antique looking CD player that was being held together by electrical tape and cement glue that was decorated with spots of oil and grease. If this so-called “priest” worked “miracles” they certainly weren’t performing any by the look of the machine.

The man leaned over to the cardboard box it sat on, beside the large green tool box, and clicked it off the loud noise finally being silent. The second it seemed he had touched the player the person slid out from under the cruiser on a wheeled slate, standing up and giving at the machine a hard stare then over to the person responsible for it being turned off.

“Kyzer! You..baka!” The short mechanic walked up to the man, who was now identified, looking at him if he were the one who was 7 inches shorter. Despite the tiny 5’3 stature, crazy red hair that was tied in fashionable pig tails, and a completely black face the anger in their eyes could easily be seen. Hell, they looked more offended than angered.

“How many times have I told you? How many!? Did five years suddenly go down the drain when I left? Jeez! Any other time, any other artist, you can happily turn off, but never, NEVER, my Malice Mizer! To me that is a sin of life!” The passion in the girls voice made Jesimae want to laugh, such a short thing with a powerful set of lungs and vocal cords was rarely seen.

Kyzer laughed his pot belly jiggling as she turned it back on and put her hands on her hips, waiting for an explanation to the murder he just committed. He pointed with his thumb in the direction of the three watching the drama unfold and continued to grin at her.

“I’ve got a few folks needing the best mechanic. If you didn’t poison your ears with such music maybe I wouldn’t have to turn it off to get your attention.”

“Well you smell like crap, but we don’t go around giving you bars of soap every time we meet do we?” Kyzer laughed as did the mechanic. He sighed out and walked towards them and pointed.

“There she is, I suggest, if she hires you, to get some good ear plugs both for the music AND her mouth!”

“Go eat a burger, heifer!” The man laughed as she turned the volume down slightly as she tossed a few unused tools into her box. The man winked at them as he walked on by letting them conduct their business.

“See what I mean? Play nice, Orange!” Jesimae watched the man walked away before she turned around to find Jiro and Taro advancing towards her. The girl wiped her hands on a stained rag and skipped a few songs until something fast and poppy came on. The girl, who he had called two different names, turned and watched the three approach her stopping at a safe distance a few feet away. She smiled at them her teeth abnormally white due to the black covering her face. The brown of her eyes were brought out by her hair and Jesimae couldn’t help but think she had to have been an interesting character.

“Sorry about Kyzer, he gets really hungry and just doesn’t act like himself.” Again she joked about this weight, winking at Jiro as her smile faded. “It’s easy to see he hates my Malice Mizer, I’ll appease him just this once with T.M. Revolution while I talk with you all.” She glanced at Jesimae the to Taro and Jiro, her eyes lingering a bit longer on the younger brother as she stuffed the red rag into the right back pocket of her coverall's.

“You asked for the best, here I am! What can I do for you handsome three?” The woman grinned and clapped her palms together then combed her fingers together and glanced at them, but she quickly pulled them apart and put her right hand on her forehead and let out an agitated sigh, gesturing her forgetfulness. She laughed gently and shook her head, letting he hand fall to her side.

“I’m sorry I am not being very professional here!” She lifted her right hand and reached it out to Jesimae and smiled. “I’m Orange Diren,” She moved down the line shaking Taro’s hand then holding it out for Jiro to take. “The best one man could have!”

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro had been surprised when he had heard Malice Mizer blaring from the old CD player. He collected Malice Mizer CD's along with other old Japanese bands, as you could rarely find them in CD format any longer. Jiro had just beginning to like this guy when he stood up and...it wasn't a guy at all. In fact it was a small girl, her crazy red hair pulled into very Japanese style ponytails, ones that Jiro had seen a lot in the NIHONGO district but no where else.

Looking at her intrigued him more. When she began to speak to them he could not see her face at all for the grease that was all over it. He couldn't help but smiled wide down at her, as he straight wide teeth shine out through the grease. She held her hand out for him to shake.

The best one man could have! she said and looked at Jiro. Jiro leaned forward towards her, trying to see her face properly. Unable to, he reached up, using his thumb and fingers to wipe away some of the grease.

"Orenji? I know you're in there," he said, wiping away enough to see her skin and get a proper look at her face. He leaned back and smiled, finally taking her hand and shaking it. "There you are. Jiro Lawson, nice to meet you." He smiled wide.

[Orange Diren]

Orenji? Did this guy call her name in Japanese!? She wanted to die. Her life seemed to revolve around Japan and anything dealing with it. Luckily, when he thumbed away some of the grease, that he couldn't see how red she had gotten. She was doing some unneccessary flirting and forgetting her place, but she couldn't help it! Jiro Lawson was too cute and looked too familiar to not forget what seh was doing and why they were talking to her.

"Jiro Lawson?" She repeated, surprised she had managed to say his name properly. Heck, she was surprised she could speak at all. She smiled and glanced away from him a second, embarrassed at how she thought he was so cute. She glanced up at him and didn't let his hand go.

"You look very familiar. I am sure you hear this all the time, but...you remind me of a Japanese singer." SHe let his hand go and turned to grab a few CD cases laying in her tool box. She smiled to herself when she found a crumpled photograph of the man she was talking about. She turned around, hoping he'd know who he was, stepping beside of him and pointing at the picture with her dirty hands.

"Gackt Camui, you two look a lot a like."

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro put a hand to his heart, reeling slightly as if he had been shot. This girl had no idea how many times his friends had teased him about it! It was ridiculous, though Jiro suposed there could be worse people to say that he looked like than Gackt Camui. He put his other hand to his head and sucked in a breath through his teeth.

"Ittai!" he groaned. "Brother never shuts up about it! Though I think he looks like Haido. I'm sure you know him if you know Gakuto-san. I think I would look better as him in his Malice Mizer visual kei days, but you know, I am not that talented with make-up," he chuckled, glancing down at the picture, then looking over her shoulder at the CD's interested in what she had. "What bands do you listen to?"

[Orange Diren]

She felt as if her body were one open nerve, she was too hyper and excited for words! This was the only man in the galaxy that knew who she was talking about, let alone mention how they liked Malice Mizer! She wantedto jump for joy, spin in a circle, give this guy a huge hug just for understanding who she was talking about.

Orange walked over to her tool box feeling a bit nervous for no apparent reason, well she was nervous that if she was caught chatting about her musical interests she'd probably get a lecture from hell. But she didn't care! This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to talk about her favorite music.

"Uh, all sorts! I mainly listen to Malice Mizer, Gackt..." She turned and glanced over her shoulder and pointed. "And how dare you say ouch, Gackt is very attractive!" She wanted to kick herself in the leg for saying that for she was implying what she first thought about Jiro Lawson.

"I love, LOVE, L'Arc~en~Ciel, and yeah your brother does look like Hyde. Oh! Miyavi! I loved Miyavi, but you can't hardly find much on him these days. Oh I dunno, I listen to whatever I can find. Which around here is pretty sparse." Seh looked at Jiro and smiled, she was overstepping her boundaries and not paying attention to the other two who were present. She bit her lower lip tasting the familiar bitter oil that was on her lip, tugging at her lip ring that was blended well with the black oil on her face.

"What is it you three are needing with your ship? I could honestly talk all day about JRock, or Japan in general, I sometimes feel it rules me life outside of the job."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro had honestly been enjoying the conversation. There was literally no one else in the galaxy who was into the oldies he and Jiro enjoyed. And he was happy to see that Jiro had a friend in the collecting area. But he also knew that Orange had a job and none of them wanted to stay there long. Taro walked up, putting a hand around Jiro's waist and smiling down at him, nodding back to the ship.

"Nazeka Jiro-kun, iku tame ni engine no kagi wo akeru shitagatte Orenji ha yoi ikken wo eru koto ga dekiru," he said. Jiro looked at him, smiling and turning, walking back towards the ship bouncing slightly in his step to a tune that must have been playing in his head. Taro smiled at the boy's back then turned back to the girl.

"We didn't want to have to stay here long, so, I hope we can get this fixed," he said, smiling at her as he put his hands behind his head. "Our engines have been giving us trouble since we took off. We've been having to shut them down and float aong until they cool down and we can start them again. She's an old girl, so it might just be age, but Jiro was speculating that it was a blown cooler fuse. If you can give her a look and touch up...what's your price?" Taro asked, and for some reason he felt uncomfortably like he was soliciting a prostitute having to say it that way. He chuckled a little bit at his thought and licked his lips. "I mean, what do we pay you for the tune up?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange smiled and chuckled lightly and glanced at the floor after his words escaped his mouth, it normally would have given her a bad feeling for a past incident that couldeasily tie those words to her memory, but she knew what he meant. She glanced up at him and shrugged her shoulder.

"Depends on how long it takes to fix it, which won't be long." People thought she was too cocky for her own good, but she couldn't help it she knew she was good at what she did. She sighed and walked over towards him, smiling gently as she glanced in between him and the woman.

"I promise I won't break your wallet, my rate usually is 30 credits an hour, but trust me you won't have to pay over 60 simply because I don't have three hours to spare."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro nodded, smiling down at her. Actually, the first time he'd really had to smile down at anyone. Most people towered over him. He turned and walked towards the ship, his brother already inside.

"Good. Come on, I'll take you to the engine room," Taro said. He jumped up the ramp into the ship, leading Orange and Jesimae down the hall to the lifts, boarding one and feeling it go down. As far down into the bely of the ship as it could.

When the doors opened, a wave of loud crashing sounds and the smell of oil and metal. Even with the ship shut down and the engines inactive, the ship still kept the climate control going and the lifts running. Taro stepped out from the rather cool lift into the hot steamy engine room, sighing immediately at the heat, and reaching into his back pocket, pulling out a hair tie and pulling his hair into a messy pontytail. He turned left beginning down the cat walk and looking about for his brother.

"Jiro-chan!" Taro shouted, smiling, knowing his brother hated it when he called him that. He heard a faint clanking sound from across the way and looked over. Jiro was lying on the edge of the catwalk, leaned over it and woking on something o ntop of one of the engines. He was looking over at them.

"Baka!" he called cheerfully, then waved them over. "Come on over, Orenji! The problem engine is this one!"

[Orange Diren]

Orange smiled and walked past the woman and the brother, she was too happy to hear Jiro's voice, especially when he called her Orenji. She saw him lying on his stomach, pointing to the engine that had the problem. She sat down beside of him and glanced at the object, enjoying how she could slightly smell Jiro as she leaned to her right to glance at the engine, immediately seeing the problem.

"When was the last time you happened to put oil in your engine?" It was a simple problem that could be seen by a small dial on the side of the engine, it could cause many minor problems but if they had to cool things off... Orange slid underneat the railing and slid in between two engines, glancing around to find where their fan belt was located.

She eyes the large piece of heavy metal and grease, the stench appeasing her senses, how she loved being able to taste the metallic oil when she breathed in. She scanned the area and saw something on the engine catch her eye. She stepped close and saw it was a pulley, she smiled and glanced around on the floor and saw a few pieces of bruned leather lying motionless.

"Fan belt is broken!" She walked around the engine to glare up at the catwalk seeing Jiro glancing down at her. "I say a new belt, an oil change and you all are ready to head home!" She hated to say that for the first time in her life she was actually relating to one human being, he was cute, he was Japanese, and obviously knew Malice Mizer and that meant a lot to her. It was a pity how quick she liked someone.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled wide looking down at her as she looked up at him. He had know it had something to do with the cooling fuse. He looked up at his brother across the way.

"Watashi ha tadashikatta!" he called and his brother nodded, waving at him and smiling.

"Hai, hai," he said laughing. Jiro scowled then swung down in between the engines with Orange crouching down at picking up the poor beaten peices of the cooler fan belt. He stood back up and looked at Orange. "Well, this one's a goner. As for our oil...I dunno. We had a friend taking care of it back on Coruscant for a long time. So, I don't when it was last changed. We got out of there pretty quick so we didn't have time to do much of anything for this poor girl."

Jiro shrugged, grabbing the catwalk ledge again and pulling himself up sitting on the edge and looking back down at Orange.

"And Brother doesn't give me half the credit I should be getting for taking care of his ship," Jiro laughed again, standing up. "Love him too much to hate him for it though. I'll go get you tools, just sit tight."

[Orange Diren]

Orange grinned as she watched him look down at her and tell her to sit tight. She wanted to just hide her face for she was finding everything he did too cute. She knew her face was red and it was probably glowing through the grease that was still stuck on her face. She loved to hear him talk, especially in Japanese, then again she liked Jiro far normally than she should have.

She watched him walk away and she couldn't help but let out a sigh of nervousness and lean against the engine. She suddenly looked down at her outfit filthy coveralls and a stained tank top, how appealing she must have looked to him. She wanted to kick herself again for thinking that, this guy was needing his engine fixed and all she seemed to have in mind was how adorable he was, how much she loved his scent, his voice, the way he called her Orenji.

Orange rolled her eyes and stood up knowing that this was a job like any other one, these people were wanting her help and she was going to get paid for doing so...and by the time they headed back to that lovely planet she was yearning to go to...they wouldn't even remember her name.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro yawned wide as he walked down the catwalk towards the storage room on this level. He was wondering about Orange wonering about what her life had been like, wondering what had driven her here to this place to fix ships. She was far too pretty not to have someone for her. He wondered if she had a boyfriend.

Jiro bit his tongue immediately to punish himself for that thought. What a moron she must have thought he was! Why would she be interested in a Japanese, obsessive compulsive, far-too-attached-to-his-brother, loud mouth? It was a combination most girls found repulsive. Which was why he had been dumped by them so much. Come to think of it he hadn't had a relationship last longer than a couple of weeks besides...Jiro bit his lip, thinking. Ren. Ren Willcox. That's it, Ren. The boy he had been cell mates with in Jail, though he figured what they had hardly qualified as a relationship.

Shaking his head to get the thoughts from them, Jiro pressed his hand to the pressure plate next to the supplies door and went inside rummaging about until he found thier box of tools, smiling down at it. It was dirty and was covered in sentances in Japanese where he and his brother had gotten bored and written on it on particularly long trips when they would hang out down here. He culd probably find thier graffiti everywhere.

Turning and going back out, Jiro shut the door behind him and jogged back down the cat walk to where Orange was waiting down below him. He smiled, laying back down on his stomach and dropping the tool box in front of her.

"Ignore the stuff written on it. Brother and I would get bored and come down here to talk and, you know. We used to write on it sometimes before we went back up. We a little bit strange that way. Is everything in there you need? Do you need me to get more stuff?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange tried her best to keep her mind occupied and on the task they were paying her for, not to stand there and daydream about what a looker Jiro was. She turned and glanced at the engine noticing its age. Most people had upgraded a long time ago to the latest technology and models that required less maintenance and were a lot less bulkier and loud, but if she were to choose between that one and the newest engines she’d have to say the Lawson brothers had one of the best models.

She wasn’t into much high tech equipment simply because technology seemed to be a pain in the rear rather than a convenience, plus it was more work for her to do when she worked on such engines. Today people were being replaced left and right by other machines to fix machines. Of course if those machines broke they’d get another machine to fix the machine. It was one big chaotic, tiring, confusing and stupid circle and one couldn’t bestow their full trust in a machine when it came down to it, after all many problems could occur with mechanical robots and they could literally end up screwing people more so than hired work.

Orange admired the brothers for sticking with the older engines, despite their size and noisiness, they sure did get the job done. The larger the engine the more powerful it was, less technology to short out, and with regular check-ups and a good cleaning they lasted for centuries. She smiled as she touched the warm metal, she had too much attachment to objects of such mechanical and electrical difficulty, but that was why she chose the job she worked at professionally.

Orange heard footsteps closing in and she stepped towards the catwalk a few feet above her, she saw Jiro come into view and she hated to admit it, but she felt a little tug in her stomach. She watched him lay down then drop the box below and smile at her. God, if she weren’t professional she’d literally swoon at such a sight.

"Ignore the stuff written on it. Brother and I would get bored and come down here to talk and, you know. We used to write on it sometimes before we went back up. We a little bit strange that way. Is everything in there you need? Do you need me to get more stuff?" Orange bent down and scanned through the box and grabbing three tools as she shook her head.

“I am set.” She glanced up at him and smiled, perhaps too bright for her liking. In over thirteen years she had not once felt so self conscious than she did at that exact moment. She was so filthy, probably smelled like engine grease, oil, hell even body odor. She knew she must not have been that appealing to anyone, but with all the men she worked with she hardly thought looking good on the job was worth the effort, but when it came to people like the Lawson brothers...she had never wanted to be more feminine in her life.

Orange’s thinking went way off track from fixing a fan belt to her appearance, then to what Jiro must’ve thought of her. Orange suddenly hated being a mechanic, hated being dirty, hated being manly. Jiro probably thought she was this big butch lesbian who was trying her best to be as manly as possible. What better way to be more like a man than working a mans job, getting filthy, and working amongst nothing but men. She realized she was thinking about something that had no relevance to repairing their engine, but it was the way a woman’s mind worked, too quickly and too in-depth.

“All I need to do is reattach the belt, luckily you guys have one!” She pulled out a wrapped fan belt, many would just let the ship port workers get one and charge them out the wazoo, but she liked how they were prepared. She stood up holding the tools in her right hand while she glanced at the belt in her other. “This won’t take me ten minutes.” Orange looked up at him and slit her eyes. “I am going to go and get a few things from my post.” She sat the objects down beside the engine and walked over to the catwalk and grabbed the metal rails and pulled herself up, again her own actions bothering her beyond reason.

Short as she was she had the power to reach places much higher and pull herself up without a bit of help, why was she not liking the fact she was a hard worker and didn’t need any help? She smiled as she watched Jiro stand up, he looked so atsui, as they said in Japanese, in just a wifebeater that was snug on his body and allowed her to see his lean form. She turned away and walked towards the lift knowing she was going to goof and let Jiro see how much she liked him.

Jiro stood to her right in the lift as they made their way up a level where they both walked out into the ship port to hear the familiar sounds of hard workers. She jogged towards her station and walked over to a red metal cabinet where she quickly unlocked her pad lock and pulled open the door to grab a bucket of oil. She closed it with her foot and walked over to the cardboard box and grabbed her small CD player and jogged back to the ship where Jiro had stayed, watching her walk and move quickly to conserve time.

Before she knew it she was back in the engine room, looking up at Jiro and holding her hands up towards him as he lowered the oil to her by its handle. She grabbed the side of the black sealed bucket that looked as if she were handling paint instead of engine oil. She heard Jiro ask her if she had a good grip on it and she nodded, but the second she was sure of herself she felt her fingers slip slightly touching Jiro’s hand. She didn’t apologize let alone acknowledge the fact she had touched him at all, even though she was going nuts in her mind. She sat it down and smiled at him.

“Arigatou.” She said in his native tongue, a bit too proud of herself for saying ‘thank you’ in their own language. It was habit gone awry, it no longer felt proper to say ‘thank you’, ‘arigatou’ was the only way Orange felt she could say it to anyone.

She felt stupid when she finally had a moment to think about it so she quickly grabbed her player and glanced over her left shoulder to see Jiro leaning on the railing smiling at her.

“I can’t do a good job without Malice Mizer. I think I am gonna play ‘Thinking Under Moon’, hopefully you won’t mind.” She winked at him and pushed play with her dirty index finger.

The music filled the engine room perfectly, the sound echoing off the walls and back into her ears where she suddenly felt free and able to breathe. She walked behind the engine and quickly grabbed the belt and stretched it onto the pulley and wheel, tightening the two round objects with her two different wrenches. It only took her five minutes to put it on and she walked over to the large bucket and put the tip of her flat head screw driver under the lid and heard it pop open. She sat the lid on the ground and glanced at the slightly syrupy liquid that was amber in colour. She glanced up at Jiro and grinned. She dipped her right hand into the liquid and cupped out a little pool of oil watching it drip off her hand and into the bucket. She stood up and walked over to the belt and smeared it all over the belt, lubricating it so it would move swiftly. She bit her lower lip as she watched it drip off to the ground as she evenly layered it on there. When she felt she had done enough she grabbed the rag out of her pocket and wiped it off.

Orange hated how oil felt on her skin, slimy and warm like a wax glove that would only get off with soap and water. She walked over to the bucket of oil and lifted it up to Jiro who took it slowly, not wanting to spill it. She grabbed the railing and pulled herself up and walked a little to the right where she crawled over the rail and put her left foot on the engine and held out her hands for the bucket. Jiro watched her take it then manage to sit the bucket on top of the rugged and oddly shaped engine, then move away from the rail and crawl onto the engine. She bit her lower lip as she straddled the large object and grab a black knob so she could pour the oil into the engine. She grunted as she tired her best, even grabbing her rag and placing it over the lid trying to turn it after several failed attempts to remove it. Again she tried, but it wouldn’t budge. She let out a sigh and looked at Jiro as she thought for a moment then glanced back at the lid. She scooted back a bit putting her hands behind her back and leaning on her palms so she wouldn’t fall backwards and off the engine. She lifted her left leg up and kicked it with the heel of her boot trying to loosen it she scooted back only to learn that attempt had been in vain. She could have gotten a hammer, but she knew that a greased rag, her foot, and any other tool wouldn’t do, sadly she knew what would. A strong arm. A mans strong arm.

“Jiro-kun?” She glanced up at him and smiled a bit too excited to let Jiro see that, at times, she could be the helpless female, too. “Could you lend me a hand?”

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro had been watching her intently until she turned and spoke to him. He blinked once then twice, wondering why her words were so garbled. Then he realized that he had allowed his mind to think in Japanese. He shook his head, clearing it and switching it back to English. It was then that her words made sense. He smiled, looking back at her.

“Ah, okay,” he grunted. He swung a leg over the railing of the catwalk and planted his boot on the engine. He leaned back on the railing and pulled his other leg over, placing it on the engine as well. He stood straight and stood behind Orange, looking down. The way she was situated on the engine made it almost impossible for him to get around her without knocking her or himself down. He could have slipped past her, but he didn’t really feel like it. He smiled.

“Well…” he said. He leaned forward and planted his hands on her shoulders. “Sorry. I don’t mean to get so personal. If you close your eyes, it’ll be over in a second. “ He leaned down on her and stepped over her shoulder carefully placing his boot on the sliver of engine between her knees. He pulled his other leg up and over her, placing it beside his other foot. His balance was thrown off and he crouched down between her knees to regain it. He crept around the engine plug and plopped down across from Orange. He put his hands together and bowed to her.

“Gomen. I’m sure that’s just the view you wanted to see today. Now…” he said, smiling and looking down, hoping she didn’t see the blush creeping up in his cheeks.

Jiro was certain that that had been the biggest bit of flirting he had done in awhile. It felt odd to have his hormones raging again after what seemed like a long time of just plain not caring. But Orange had somehow made that all go away. His flirting instincts had flared up from his old club hopping days, and he was actually pulling out methods he had used to get people into bed with him.

And he was mentally beating himself up.

Orange was better than that, he knew. Why couldn’t he just treat her like…like Jesimae? Just talk to her and get to know her and let her know him, and not pull out the tricks from his hooker days? What was wrong with just talking?

But a bitter taste exploded into his mouth as he remembered that this was just a one time thing. After they left this place they’d never see Orange Diren again, and that would be that. His hormones would never raise their ugly head again.

Jiro scowled, his day feeling officially soured as he clamped a hand around the engine plug and twisted. For a moment, he felt nothing. Then there was some give, and it twisted off, popping into his hand. He smiled a little, leaning over and balancing it on Orange’s knee.

“She’s all yours, Orenji,” he said winking at her.

“Jiro-kun!” he heard a voice call to him from across the engine room. Jiro twisted around to see his brother standing there, looking at him. Jiro waved.

“Konnichiwa, Kyoudai!” he called, smiling.

“Jiro-kun, hotondo sa reru hito de aru ka watashi ha konpyuuta koshou wo kangaeru,” his brother said, pointing back over his shoulder. Jiro nodded.

“Ee, watashi tachi ha bun inai ni aru. Kyoudai, watashi tachi ha kanojyo wo yatotte mo ii ka. Kanojyo ha jissai ni yoi! Kanojyo ha katachi de watashi tachi no fune wo tamotsu koto ga dekiru,” Jiro said, looking over his shoulder and nodding to Orange. Taro shrugged.

“Watashi ha shira nai. Watashi ha sore nitsuite kangae nakere ba nara nai,” his brother said. Then he leaned around to look at Orange. “If my little boy gets on your nerves, I’ll be happy to take him off your hands.”

Jiro smiled, waving his hand. Taro walked and disappeared around some machinery. Jiro turned back to look at Orange. He shook his head, smiling and lying back on the engine, putting his hands behind his head.

“Yeah, and if he gets on your nerves, I’ll be happy to take him off your hands,” he smiled. “Sorry if Brother is a bit loud. We’ve always been so.” Jiro looked at Orange, then sat up, scratching his stomach under his shirt and laughing.

“Well, anyway. I am going to go get myself some food. Do you want anything while I’m up there? I think we’ve got some Osaka Wine.” He winked. “Not that I’m of legal age to drink it.”

[Orange Diren]

Orange couldn't hear waht he was saying all she could do was sit and stare at him and marvel in her mind how much she would just love to get her hands on him. She was surprised he didn't feel her literally gawking at him the entire time he was unplugging the oil cap, but when she heard him speaking in Japanese...her body temperature rised so high it was a wonder he couldn't feel it.

All of a sudden she finally saw Jiro standing up and scratching his stomach, as she sat below him she could see up his shirt. Again global temperature was bound to rise to new heights.

"No." She said with a frown, almost shocked she had even said a word correctly such a close encounter with Jiro had literally caused her mind to just disappear. "I'm going to be done here in two shakes of a lambs tail." Orange hated to think it, but it was the truth.

She grabbed the bucket and positioned it over the drain and poured it in. Like she had said the moment it oozed out of the bucket she was done and already had the cap on before she could even say she had finished.

Slowly she stood and let out a disgruntled sigh, all she needed was for Taro or Jiro to hand her the cash, sign the receipt, and head home. She smiled and ran her right wrist across her forehead, smearing away some black oil.

"We are done here, my friend." She suddenly felt sad, empty, and like she were crashing from a serious sugar rush. She stepped over towards the railing, her mind someplace else. But when her right foot slipped on some spilled grease one could easily bet she was in tune with her surroundings, especially when she was about to fall off balance.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro's instincts acted before his good sense took over. When she slipped, he automatically jumped forward and wrapped his arms around her waist, catching her weight as her blanced tipped backwards. It was then he realized that she probably could have helped herself. He bit his lip, hoping she wouldn't get angry.

He carefully put her back on her feet, laughing slightly as he slipped around her to stand between her and the railing. He looked down at her. His hands had not left thier resting place on her sides, they wouldn't move even though his mind willed them too.

"Need to be careful up here, huh?" he said. He wrinkled his nose slightly as he smiled. He winked down at her, then leaned back on the railing and swung his legs over. They were a curse, being so long. So he felt as if he were swining them forever. But finally, he planted his large boots on the catwalk and stood straight. He turned back to Orange, and nodded over to the lifts.

"My brother said that the computer is malfunctioning, and was wondering if you would take a look at it. Sho always malfunctions. So, I imagine that it won't be that big of a deal," he said, shrugging. He smiled at her again. "Sorry."

[Orange Diren]

Her heart was pounding so quickly in her chest she knew at any given moment it would fly out and land on Jiro. She thought she had been frightened at falling just seconds ago, now she was frightened at having Jiro save her. She felt so hot, she felt sweat beading on the back of her neck and probably all over her body. Jiro...in Orange's book of men he was probably the top rated one even if she didn't sleep with him. Knowing this man was enough and sure enough when he was gone she'd probably obsess over him for a while then find someone new. Hey, there was always Kyzer.

Orange laughed and let out a nervous sigh as she crawled over the railing, at least this new problem gave her a for more minutes with Jiro. She glanced up at him and sat down the empty bucket and grabbed her red rag and wiped her face clean, although it was now no longer black it still had stains, she knew. She bit her lower lip and shrugged her shoulder and looked at Jiro, perhaps a bit too long and too judgemental, God he was hot.

"Sure, I can take a look at it." She smiled her body still reminiscing about Jiro's arms being around her waist. How she would love to feel that one more time before he left.

Orange stuffed the rag into her pocket and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and rubbed her sweaty palms dry on her coveralls. "Show me the way, babe." How she hated old habits.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled weakly, a swelling of slight fear jumping in his stomach at Orange calling him 'babe'. She knew nothing of what memories that brought back to him, and he knew she meant nothing by it. But it did bring back thoughts of someone he never wanted to think about. Squeezing his eyes shut and shaking the man from his mind, he smiled again, this time a little more meaningful and opened his eyes again.

"Come on," he said, turning away from her and beginning down the catwalk. He swallowed hard, rubbing his eyes, the memories not leaving him as they usually did. He supposed it made him self-conscious being around someone he found immensely attractive, and knowing that he had such a dirty history. He hated his past, hated what he had been, what sometimes he wished he still was.

He and Orange got on the lift and it took them up to the main hallway. Jiro leaned out looking down the hall to the cockpit. He saw his brother there and he called down to him.

"Kyoudai!" he said cheerily, seeing his brother making his mood a little better. He looked back at Orange. "This way."

[Orange Diren]

Orange smiled at him as she walked behind him where he had called out to his brother. Whhile he walked in front of her she couldn't help but smack her forehead in embarassment for calling him that. She had never been so eager to slip back into her old habit of making some extra cash, although that had been many years ago and she had since straigthened up, slightly, she didn't think Jiro would like her very much if he found out what a harlot she had been back a few years ago before...

She bit her lower lip tasting the oil. She hadn't thought of Shinichiro in many years and she had prefered to keep it that way, but being around a Japanese man with such good looks...it was hard not to find him appealing and it was even harder to keep her mind on her job and off of ho wmuch he reminded her of Shin. She tried her best to think of ways to solve the computer problem, whatever it may have been, but the one thing that let her want to smack herself again was when she found herself looking straight at Jiro's butt. She let out a laugh and shook her head, laughing yet again because she had just laughed. Any moment Jiro would turn around and look at her and think she was a mental patient.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro heard Orange laughing and wondered what she found so funny. But they entered the cockpit and Jiro was distracted by the fact that his brother was sitting on the cockpit controls, holding down a panel that had apparently popped open. Jiro laughed.

"Kyoudai?" he said walking over. His brother hopped off and the panel stayed put. Jiro shook his head, taking his brother's hand and pulling him over next to him. "Fukakai, shitte iru sore wo de aru ka?" he whispered, then shook his head, turning back to Orange and smiled, dropping his brother's hand and smiling.

"Sorry. If you want to take a look, the panel's over there next to you on the wall. Sho is tempermental when it comes to people fixing him. And he only speaks Japanese so I will stick around to translate for you if he decides to talk to you," Jiro said, laughing as his brother flicked his ear, rolling his eyes and leaving. Jiro looked over to his brother's back as he left. "Baka! Kyoudai, daisuki!"

"Daisuki," his brother answered from the hallway. Jiro turned back to Orange.

"I imagine you'll need some other tools. What do you think?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange watched the two and for some reason she suddenly felt...odd. She didn't know what it was or why, but to see the two so...close it made her stomach become a tight ball. Quickly she brushed it off when the older left the room, she grinned and glanced up at Jiro and shook her head.

"Fingers will probably do just fine with computers." She winked at him and walked over to the panel and looked inside. She frowned and sat on her knees and glanced around seeing nothing but wires and overlapping computer chips. It looked practically normal, until her eye caught a shimmering object. She frowned and stuck her hand deep inside, moving her head to the right as she felt the sharp metallic object within in fingers grasp. She bit her lower lip as she tugged on it, wiggled it, jerked, twisted, anything imaginable to the object in question. She jerked her left hand hard and suddenly the object was loosened and she fell onto the floor. She let out a laugh as she sat on the floor, embarassed beyond all means now that she had slipped twice, the second time being successful.

"Ittai!" She said as she continued to laugh as she crawled onto her knees and stood up slowly. With her right hand she rubbed her butt where it had made contact with the hard metal floor. She glanced at the object and almost laughed again. She licked her lips and looked up at Jiro.

"Does this belong to you?" She held it out for him to take and she gently sat it on his palm as she turned back to the computer panel and pushed down on it firmly, hearing it lock into place. She pushed a few buttons and heard the computer speaking in Japanese. Although she wasn't one to speak it fluently she knew it was running just fine. She let out a sigh and leaned on her left palm while her right hand sat on her hip. She looked at Jiro and smiled.

"Earrings have a tendency to mess things up a little bit." She knew for a fact it wasn't Jiro's, it could've been his brothers but by the looks of it...it had to have been a females. "Tell everyone to keep off the panel!" She winked at him and glanced out the large window afraid that to be more specific than that. Well, it was good to know someone in the galaxy was getting a little action.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro bit his lips hard as he looked at the earring. It definately wasn't his or his brother's, seeing as how they kept to more masculine earrings. He sucked in a breath between his teeth and stuffed the earring into his pocket, looking back at Orange.

"Yeah, well..." he said, scratching his head and running a hand through his hair. "I guess...that's it..." he said reluctantly, looking down at his feet. He didn't want her to go, didn't want his brother to simply pay her and have them go on their way. He wondered if she wanted to stay. He turned back to her and smiled.

"Orenji," he said. "Would you like to stay on the ship, as a hired mechanic? Keep the old girl up and running for us, Brother and I. There would be pay, naturally. Whatever the price, we'll pay it." Jiro bit his lip, hoping she would say yes.

[Orange Diren]

She glanced over at him and tried to remain calm, collected, and in the same place she was for at that moment she wanted to jump all over him and laugh like a maniac.

She had been working her way towards Coruscant, hopefully they'd be going in a direction close to the planet. She bit her lower lip and tugged on her lip ring, there were many positions open in the Coruscant Ship port and in her heart that was where she wanted to be for the pay and living were excellent, she was good enough to work there.

Although Coruscant is nice she loved working on the drifter colony and loved the intimacy of being head mechanic and in charge of everything, it were as if she were her own boss. She leaned off the control panel and smiled.

"Already attached to me, huh?" She winked at him and nodded. "Matter of fact I was looking for a more personal job, but I'm afraid my weekly wages here are rather high. Plus I need everyone to sign a form that states they are hiring me under my set of conditions and that if I should screw up you cannot sue the port." Orange was excited, probably more than she should have been, but she couldn't help it, thinking of staying on the same ship with Jiro made her day.

"Shouldn't you consult your family before making a decision?"

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled, chuckling as he leaned back on the control panel and licked his lips. In truth, she didn't know how attached to her he was already after such a short time. But she also seemed a good mechanic and was pleasant to be around. He nodded.

"Don't worry about my brother, I have my ways of getting him to do what I want...and I'll go through the hoops. Just tell me what you need us to do."

[Orange Diren]

Orange smiled at him, suddenly shying away as if looking him directly in the eyes were going to kill her. She looked at the floor and nodded, not realizing how much she liked this guy. The thought of Jiro jumping through hoops just to get her to work for him...it made her feel a bit...special.

"All you need to do is sign the form, let me get my stuff, then its wherever you guys are heading." She finally looked back up at him and grinned, knowing that since she cleaned her face slightly he could see her blushing brightly.

"I'm willing to lower my price. That's the hoop I'm willing to jump through for you." She winked, her flirting pushing the limits far beyond their means.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled wide, standing straight and crossing his arms over his chest. He walked to the door and leaned on it, turning and looking back at Orange. She looked so cute standing there smiling at him. He couldn't help but smile back.

"Okay, then, Orenji. You go get your stuff, I'll go take care of my brother. I'm sure he'll be receptive after I've talked to him a little," he winked, smiling, then turned and began down the hall, towards the kitchens. It was where he figured his brother had gone. "Kyoudai! Iru no?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange couldn't stop smiling as she quickly grabbed her two shirts and coveralls, her four pairs of black underwear, and her reserve pair of boots. She was ecstatic that Jiro wanted to hire her, but what was going through her mind was a feeling of sheer lust and attraction....surely Jiro just saw her as a good worker, unfortunately she wished he saw her for more.

Orange pulled the black strap on her duffel bag over her left shoulder and walked out to her post where she grabbed her tool box and CD player. She jogged across the port over to the main office where she saw Kyzer watching the security cameras as he ate a bag of chips and some unknown drink. She knocked on the door and looked in at him.

"See you." She said with a bittersweet smile. "I'll write, just like last time." He looked up at her and nodded, he hadn't taken the news well, which he hadn't the first time., but he got over it. She hated how bitter he was being, he knew it was her goal to get to Coruscant. She shook her head with slight sadness as she turned and walked over towards the ship where she held a yellow paper in her hand that was for their signatures.

She had left once before, but for some reason she was nervous about this trip, nervous because the main reason in her mind for saying yes was because of Jiro, because of her attraction towards him. Hopefully, it wasn't a stuppid reason to be going anywhere with the Lawson brothers.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro watched as his brother stalked in front of him, pacing annoyed. Jiro smiled at him as he knew that his brother was about to say yes. Jiro walked over and took his brother's arm stopping him. Taro looked down at him, scowling.

"Arigatou, Kyoudai," he said, smiling. Taro blew a breath through his nose, then smiled, putting his arm around Jiro's waist, pulling him closer. He pulled him out of the kitchen and they began down the hall back towards the hatch. Jiro was glad that his brother had agreed to let her come onto their ship. He was posotive that she wouldn't let them down as a mechanic and he knew that he would definately enjoy having Orange around.

They were almost to the hatch when Orange came back in. Jiro smiled down at her and glanced up at his brother who was still scowling. He pinched his brother's side, knowing it would tickle him. Taro laughed, jumping away, then scratching his head, looking back at Orange.

"Well, it looks like you've got yourself a job, Ms. Diren," Taro said, leaning against the wall. He looked at Jiro. "I'll let my little boy show you to a room." He smiled, looking at Jiro, then turning and going to the cockpit. Jiro smiled.

"See? I told you that he would let you stay, he just needs the proper convincing," Jiro said, laughing.

[Orange Diren]

Orange watched the two then once Taro left Jiro's words made her laugh. He was so kawaii! She wanted to tell him over and over again, but she couldn't she didn't have the confidence or the ability to. She nodded and handed him the paper.

"Sign your name here," She pointed on a dotted line and then shrugged her shoulders. "All you do is sign it and I keep it." She tugged on her lip ring and watched his eyes scan the paper she held out in front of him.

"I guess now I get to tell you how much you look like Gackt all the time." She smiled and walked into the ship, Jiro beside of her. She could smell him again, his closeness causing her heart to skip beats and her stomach turn. She just wanted to rub his scent all over her for it reminded her of how he looked. She knew she was being a bit obsessive, but as long as he didn't hear her thoughts then she was golden.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled as they walked down the hall to the lifts. He shook his head, looking down at the paper and rereading it. They were taken up to the living quarters. Jiro glanced up the hall and walked down it, going past his room to the empty one next to it. He stopped and typed in the opening code. The door slid open and Jiro bowed to her.

"This is your homestead. My room's right here next to you and Brother's is one down from you. So, if you need anything, we'll probably be in there, or the cockpit. Ummm...let me go sign this really fast," Jiro said. He went to his room, opening the door and jogging in to his desk. He searched through his journals on his desk and found his favorite pen. Quickly, he scrawled his name on the line and recapped the pen, going back out to Orange and handing her the paper.

"There you are Orenji-chan. Good as new," Jiro said, bowing to her. "We'll be taking off any minute, so, you oughta get comfortable."

[Orange Diren]

Orange found their ship magnificent, she had viewed the engine room, cockpit, and living quarters and by far this was one of the nicest ships she had seen in a long time. She slowly glanced around the dark room and she ran her hand along the wall till she felt a soft touch pad. She traced upward on the pad and saw the lights fade in to where they were as bright as they could go. She loved ships that had the dimmer lights, it made her feel more comfortable especially whenever she wanted to relax in a soft glowing light.

She slowly walked in and sat her duffel bag on the bed then walked back into the hall where she saw Jiro walking out and handing the paper to her. ”There you are Orenji-chan. Good as new.” She wanted to die. She loved the way he said her name, it was so adorable! He was so adorable. She heard him tell her they were about to take off and she nodded in response, turning on her heel and walking into the nice sized room that wasn’t too big or too small. She unzipped her duffel bag and folded the paper and stuffed it into a pocket on the interior.

She pulled out the small pile of folded clothes and walked over to a dresser in the corner and sat her two tank tops on the right, her coveralls on the left, her underwear in the middle. She closed the dresser and walked back over and sat her boots by the door. She could feel Jiro standing in the doorway watching her and for a moment she felt odd, but it made her a bit satisfied that he was watching her. She sat the toolbox beside the side table after she stuffed her duffel bag under the bed, her CD’s on top of it, and her player on the side table.

“I’m a light packer.” She joked knowing that was all the possessions she had for she never truly had any other needs for clothes. She glanced up at him and slit her eyes seeing him in the bright light for the first time really getting to see him beautiful face. He was striking as a matter of fact he and Gackt could possibly be twins. She smiled on the inside really noticing how silly that sounded, but it was true although she thought Jiro was far better looking.

She grabbed three small pictures crumpled in with her small CD collection seeing Gackt’s face staring up at her. Orange grinned as she sat it on her side table remembering how Jiro had acted when she told him how much they looked alike. The other two were of L’Arc~en~Ciel and Miyavi, her other favorite artists. She sat her right knee on the bed and put the two pictures on the wall, the putty on the back still fresh since she had recently put them above her bed back at the port. She sat down and heard the CD cases clash together. She glanced over at Jiro then patted the bed with her left palm wanting him to come and sit by her, again stepping over the boundries of flirting, professionalism, and friendly gestures.

“Come over here.” She said with a smile that was sly and sneaky. She knew that she was pushing the limits a bit too far, but she was no longer working for the ship port and rules no longer applied. “Tell me about your favorite Japanese artists while you see my small collection.” She hoped he would have no problem flopping down beside her and chatting away, it had been a long time since she had talked to anyone who knew of the old classic artists to have someone with the same interest tickled her pink, even more so when she finally classified Jiro Lawson, in her mind, as the sexiest guy she had ever seen, aside from Gackt of course.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled in at her. He toed off his shoes, the habit making him shake his head. He strode in and hopped onto the bed next to her, placing his hand behind her on the matress and leaning over to look at the CD's she clutched in her hands. She had some good ones, though most of them he also had. He sighed.

"Well, I like...Malice Mizer, L'Arc~En~Ciel, Gakuto, T.M. Revolution, Orange Range, Tackey and Tsubasa, Miyavi, W-inds, A.I., Nakashima Mika, Hikaru Utada...and some others. But they've slipped my mind," he said. He reached out and picked one of the CD's from her hand, turning it over and reading the Japanese on it. It was one of Gackt's CD's. The Crescent album in fact. One of his favorites, though his was a little less loved that this one, as he kept it in its shipping package and had made a copy of the CD to listen to instead of the original. He smiled.

"I love this album," he said, looking over at her, finding thier faces a little closer than he had anticipated. He felt a blush creep up in his cheeks as he felt her breath on his mouth. He leaned back, lying back on the bed and continuing to look at the back of the album, reading and rereading the Japanese. He smiled again. "Which song is your favorite?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange smiled, forcing her face to not allow it to grow bigger than it already was. Jiro's closeness caused her heart to race and she felt as if she were panting when she glanced over at him, his face merely inches away. When he moved she thought she could breathe again, but when he told her he loved the album she was going to die! They had something in common, she loved that album too.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw him laying down, glancing up at the album as he held it above him, his shirt slightly riding up off the band of his pants allowing her to see a bit of skin. She swallowed hard and tried to keep her mind clean and clear of bad thoughts.

"Well, the whole album is great, but I'd have to say the last track, Orenji no Taiyou. I cry everytime I hear it." She laughed gently as she sat a few CD's on the bed, her face growing red and warm at revealing how much of a woman she was when it came to slow songs, especially if they were sung by Gackt and HYDE.

"How about yours?" Orange looked at him and grinned knowing her face was red as a beet.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled, putting the CD beside him on the mattress and looking over at Orange. He thought a moment, thinking through all the songs on the album. He did dearly love Orenji no Taiyou, its words meant something to him. He stretched out like a cat on the bed, yawning slightly before answering.

"I would agree. Orenji no Taiyou is also my favorite," he said, letting the tune run through his head. It was funny how every time he thought about that song he just wanted to sing it. He hummed it through a little, smiling to himself. He looked back at Orange. "It means something to me, you know?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange lifted her eyes and looked at Jiro she grinned gently knowing exactly what he meant. She was wanting to cry at the thought of the song and when she heard him hum it slightly she couldn't help but feel her heartstrings being tugged on.

"Yeah," She sighed as she sat the CD's on her side table before turning and looking at him with a smile that was too bright for her own stupid liking. "I understand more than you know!" She laughed and shook her head her face feeling as if it were on fire. Jiro was so cute! Everything he did was making her absolutely insane! At any given moment, she knew, she'd attack him and never let him out of her room.

"I dunno why, but I want to sing that song whenever I mention it!"

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro's face brightened as he sat up, and then stood. It seemed they had a lot more in common then he'd originally thought. He looked back down at her.

"Me too," he said, smiling brightly. He felt his insides churning at the sudden realization that he and Orange were in the room alone together. She was far cuter than he had at first given her credit for, even though he had always known she was cute. But now, in the dim light, she seemed much more beautiful. He shook his head, turning away as he felt the ship shudder and the intercom crackle on the wall.

"Orange?" it was Taro's voice. "We're about to take off. I thought you might want to get secured before we did." The intercom cracked again and Jiro looked back over at Orange as he felt the ship begin to shake. He smiled and made his way to the bed, sitting down and securing himself on it.

"Well, I'm ready," he said with a large smile as he took a hold of the edge of the bed. "You good?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange jumped when she heard the older brother's voice. She was slightly afraid that there might be camera's fixed in the room much like that in the ports, but she felt safer on their ship safe from prying eyes that happened to be around. She felt the bed shake when Jiro sat down and grabbed a hold of the edge, she looked at him with a raised eyebrow and laughed.

"I'm good," She stated as she leaned on the bed's headboard, waiting for the violent take off, her stomach turning with fright and excitement all at the same time, even more so when she realized how close she was to Jiro, perhaps too close for his comfort although she could literally crawl on top of him and be fine. "But if I fly off the bed I am counting on your to be my savior." She winked at him and let out a sigh praying she hoenstly didn't get tossed into the air.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro laughed out loud, and let go of the edge of the bed, crawling over behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him, his heart beating so fast as he felt her back touch his chest that he knew she would be able to hear it. He looked at her, and smiled.

"Well, if I just hang on to you, then we won't have to worry about you flying off then, will we?" he muttered as he felt the ship begin to shake violently and the engines explode to life, causing the ship to lurch forward. He felt the ship roar to life and begin out, shaking and trembling, bouncing he and Orange on the bed. Jiro was holding his head against hers so they wouldn't crack together. He saw the stars streaking past the window for a moment before he finally felt the ship soar out into space, the shaking and trembling finally easing off and eventually stopping.

After a moment of silence, Jiro let go of Orange and slid around her and off the bed. He smiled and nodded to the door.

"My shoes probably took a trip down the hall. I better go hunt them down," he said. Then he waved at her. "Sayounara, Orenji-chan. If you need me or my brother, we'll be in either the cockpit, our rooms or the kitchen. We're bottomless pits, so I'd always try the kitchen first."

Jiro waved again, smiling and winking, before he opened the door, glanced up and down the hall and shut the door behind him, trying to get his heart and his breath back to normal.

[Orange Diren]

Orange had never had such a rush in her life! One second she felt like she were on cloud 9 then she felt as if her world had literally collapsed. He had run off so quickly she couldn't help but think of a child who never stayed put for very long. She let out a sigh and fell back onto the bed where he had once been just a moment ago.

Orange thought she had the moves and the ability to make men swoon at her feet but Jiro had some good tricks up his sleeve, teasing was obviously his best traits of hooking people. She stood up and laughed out loud and looked around the room. She felt dirty and she knew that Jiro must smell up to high heaven since he touched her. Feeling self conscious, as she always did when around attractive men while in her work uniform, she grabbed the tail of her stained tank top and pulled it over her head reaviling her clean skin underneath, the outline of the tank top showing by her dirtied arms. She walked into the bathroom and flipped on the lights and looked around, when she saw no sign of a towel she turned around and jogged out of the bedroom and towards Jiro who was walking quickly towards the lift with his shoes in tow.

"Jiro!" She called out as she slowed down to a slow pace not realizing she wasn't wearing a shirt, just her black bra. It was a bad habit she accuired while working at the ship ports, she lived, ate, and showered amongst men stripping to her skivvies wasn't anything new to her, hopefully Jiro wouldn't say anything.

"I don't see a towel in sight, mind finding one for me?" She smiled at him and bit on her lower lip, she knew what she was doing, she purposely wanted Jiro to see her wearing no shirt despite the fact of how comfortable she was. Before she could honestly grasp a hold of the situation she suddenly realized her back, well her subconscious did forcing her to realize what was showing. She put her right hand on the small of her back, feeling where the tattoo began and the pain she endured while receiving it, luckily if Jiro noticed she had a good fake story to tell him.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro looked back over his shoulder at Orange who had stoped in the middle of the hall in her bra and pants. For a moment it took him off guard, but he adapted to other people's needs quickly and by the time he had walked over to her, it no longer phased him. He smiled down at her as he walked back into her bedroom and to the bathroom.

He leaned down and opened a drawer bringing out a towel and wash cloth and turned back to her holding them out and bowing, smiling wider when he stood straight again.

"Here you are. Sorry, I guess I should have given you a grand tour," he said. Orange smiled at him and she turned to put the towel and wash cloth down on the small table near the door, Jiro got a clear view of her smooth back. His eyes traveled down the length of it, and he almost looked away, feeling as if he were violating her somehow. But his eyes reached the small of her back and he saw a pale scar there. It was large and round and in the center, there was an intricate scar in the shape of a...

Jiro's stomach turned over as a sharp, unbearable pain shot through the small of his own back and his hand went to it, massaging the large scar on his own back. The blood had rushed from his face as he swallowed hard, gulping down air.

"Where...did you...get that?" he barely whispered, his hand reaching over and touching the scar, his entire body trembling uncontrollably. He was breathing fast and hard, gasping for air. He looked back up at her. "Where did you get it?!"

[Orange Diren]

Orange frowned when she heard his voice then felt his fingers touch the scar on her back. Any other time she’d probably enjoy such a sensation of feeling his fingers trace over her back, but his voice...the way he spoke...the way he demanded to know. Orange stood up and looked at him his face drained of all its color and suddenly she felt as if it had offended him in some odd way. She frowned and put her left hands knuckles over the distinct design that she had felt many times before. Although it was literally burned into her skin, it had also been burned into her mind for she had stared at it many times and traced it with her hands.

In any normal circumstance she would feel absolutely fine to lie, tell him the story she had told many before about how she got drunk and had a friend burn it in for her, but those who had asked were to stupid to understand no tattoo parlor could brand someone the way her back was, of course there was the very hip and modern parlors where one could get a tattoo burned into the skin, but this was different, it had texture.

She felt her knuckles rub over the light colored scar tissue that was in the shape of a scorpion, a small oval circle surrounding it, typical of many branding emblem. Anyone who owned wild animals to heard or breed was required by law to brand them on their sides with a distinct emblem that was for recognition. Branding was still widely done by the old fashioned way of getting a custom made branding poker, all one was to do was sit it in a fire for merely five minutes and it would be ready to burn something for the rest of their days....or in her case, the rest of her days.

Orange felt hot and as if the whole room were one giant steam room she couldn’t breathe for the look on Jiro’s face...he looked so shocked, if not horrified. She frowned and shook her head.

“N-n-nothing.” She let out a nervous laugh and turned and bent over into the shower and turned on the water hearing it pour into the porcelain tub quickly. She untied the coverall’s sleeves that were around her waist where she always rolled the upper half of her uniform down. She felt the lower half loosen and she grabbed the belt loop and slowly pulled them down, her mind literally someplace else as she undressed in front of him. She shook her coveralls and folded them, sitting them on the floor next to the shower where she would be able to find them and take them to get cleaned, wherever that was located. She pulled off her socks and sat them on top of the neatly folded outfit and stood up, seeing Jiro was touching the small of his back as if he could feel her pain.

“Jiro?” She swallowed the fear she felt inside, his reaction wasn’t the typical ‘Oh cool’ or ‘that had to hurt’ expressions she was used to hearing. She walked over to him and touched his arm. “Jiro are you...” She glanced to her right the small mirror above the sink caused her to see Jiro’s movements being reflected in the mirror and for a second she could have sworn she saw something on his own back, but she knew it was nothing. Right?

Orange didn’t care to ask she simply grabbed the tail of his wife beater and tried to see his back, but he recoiled moving away so she couldn’t see, he moving towards the skin and almost ending up on the vanity. Suddenly the room temperature had rose by many degrees, the air had made its way out of the small cubical room, sweat was beading on the back of her neck, and she no longer could breathe. She looked over his left shoulder and in the mirror seeing he was still touching his back, his face lost in thought. She saw under his shirt and immediately when she saw the thin, deep, distinctive curves she swore she was going to pass out, but she somehow got composure and stepped away from him trying her best to fight the tears wanting to come. Luckily they remained hidden deep within.

“When I was 13 I got drunk...a friend of mine branded the small of my back on a dare.” It was a little bit of truth mixed with a lot of lies. The only truth being her age. She wanted to see what he had to say if anything at all. For the first time in over 6 years she was ready and willing to tell someone the truth about how she received such a distinct mark even more so when she swore she had seen it on Jiro.

She felt sick. Images of that horrific night flooded into her mind after many years of repetitively stating that her lie was how she truly received the scar. She had said it to herself so many times that she was finally believing her own lie, but at one single moment her walls were coming down on her and the truth was being relayed in her mind in the graphic scenes it had honestly been. She backed away from Jiro and felt the cold wall against her back and there she leaned on it, glancing at Jiro knowing it’d be best to just come right out and tell him.

“Iie.” She whispered lowly seeing his eyes were becoming unclouded from his deep thinking, his attention regained at her words. She swallowed the fear down and she drew in a deep nervous breath before letting it out silently through her nose. She closed her eyes for a moment the reopened them finding Jiro staring at her biting on his lower lip.

“I met a guy in a bar. I’m not going to lie, Jiro...” She hated having to tell him this for she knew he’d never look at her the same again, he’d probably tell his older brother to turn around and take her trashy self back to the Tattooine port, but she had to tell him anyhow. “I experimented a lot when I was younger and one night, I went bar hopping trying to get lucky.

“I went into this crazy place in Tattooine and got smashed. I was dancing and going crazy until finally I almost passed out. This older gentleman came over and helped me to a seat where he sat and chatted with me for almost two hours. I was slightly sober by the time I suggested that he take me back to his place and he agreed. You must understand I was young and gullible...I had no idea that a fairly older gentleman taking a child home with him was truly disgusting.” Orange had to at least say something in her defense for fear this story was going to ostricize her, after all this was the first time she was ever going to tell someone the truth, not even Kyzer or Shin knew the truth.

“We went back to his place, like I said he took me to his home. There we were continuing our nice conversation. As the time progressed I began to realize that I didn’t want to sleep with him, if you can believe this I didn’t like his personality.” She lightly laughed trying to make herself more comfortable, but it only made her feel worse. Slowly she swallowed and leaned off the wall and looked at the ground as she collected her thoughts. When she was ready to speak she lifted her eyes up to Jiro and frowned.

“I told him to take me home, but he refused. Again and again I pleaded for him to take me back to the bar or my apartment, anywhere but there! But time and time again he refused! I suddenly realized this had been a bad idea. I bolted for the front door, but he was too quick for a drunk 13 year old, too powerful. He proceeded to...to uhm...” Orange couldn’t say the word, couldn’t say that she had been violated in the worst way humanly possible. “I tried to get away, but he was too strong for me. I had been beaten and tied up. When he figured he was ‘done’ he told me I was his prize.”

Orange felt the memories hit her so hard that she literally thought she’d fall backwards her mind had never remembered that night as well as she was right then. But still she found the courage to swallow the pain inside and let Jiro understand what had happened.

“I can still hear the way the metal screeched across the floor as he brought the bright object towards me. I screamed for help, but by that time I could barely speak. The bright red color was being burned into my memory as he slowly dragged the steaming poker. He held it next to my face and told me again that I was his prize, I screamed for him not to di it, but he just put his boot on my back and held me still as she lowered the scolding hot object onto my back. I could hear my flesh burning, sizzling like a piece of meat on a hot skillet. The pain was horrendous.”

“After that he untied me and took me back to the bar and pushed me out of the cruiser. After that I cleaned up my act and moved to Tattooine’s nearest moon. I haven’t seen that man since, but every time I see my back in the mirror I can hear him, see him. I’m forever scarred because of him.” Orange felt she had just said a years supply of words, her heart was pounding in her chest, she was burning alive and she had the small beads of sweat on her neck and arms to prove it.

“That’s where I got it.”

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro backed against the wall hard as he listened to her story. The images flashing in his mind taking his breath away, making his hear beat harder and harder. He clutched his throat, trying to get his breath to go down. He reached for the door and stumbled sideways out of it, almost falling completely down, but managing to lurch towards the bed.

Orange had no idea the pain being inflicted on his body and his mind. She probably thought he was crazy, seeing as how she had been so calm and collected about it. But it was only two years ago, and there was not one day that went by that Jiro didn’t think about it at least once.

Jiro reached the bed, and sat down, gasping for breath, all his scars aching, and every movement that had caused them flashing through Jiro’s mind. All he could feel was the hand around his throat, the heavy body crushing him against the wall, the heat, the grunts, the cursing…the pain. Through all the sensations, Jiro felt the pain. The tears falling down his face as he felt the cold wall press against his cheek.

The freezing heat of the iron sending his body into convulsions. The laugh, the touch of the man as if he were afraid to break Jiro. And yet he had just spent five hours breaking him. Jiro could see the man’s eyes burning into him, his smile…that smile that made Jiro feel as if he would always belong to that man. He would always see a little of him in every person he saw. Jiro could hear the metallic crash as the man threw the iron on the wall and escaped out the window, leaving Jiro naked and bleeding.

Jiro felt the lump in his throat ease as his mind suddenly drew a blank. His body slowly stoped shaking as the fear eased off his chest and the pain pulsed away, leaving him breathing heavily, and limp, as if he were a rag doll.

He looked around him as if he were waiting for the man to walk into the room. He laid back on the bed, crossing his arms over his eyes as he felt the tears of that night spring up in his eyes again, and he swallowed against them, breathing deeply, waiting for Orange to come in and tell him that he was being childish. He took a deep breath. He hadn’t had a panic attack like that since…

[Orange Diren]

Orange wasn't expecting such a reaction, she was frightened by how he nearly fell out of the room where she heard his breathing was shallow and heavy. She felt so frightened she was frozen in place for so long she swore an hour had gone by when she finally truned out of the room and walked in to see Jiro laying on the bed with his face covered. She watched his chest rising and falling quickly, she suddenly realized he had the same burn...he knew exactly what it felt like, what it sounded like, what torture and pain she had been put through.

Slowly, almost cautiously, she walked towards the bed crossing her arms over herself, suddenly feeling shy for being so open to just throw her clothes off. Her heart was pounding so fast and she was practically panting, she had never seen someone act that way before. She knew his experience must've been in recent years for her ability to remain numb from the images was learned from time.

"Jiro?" She whispered as she bent down and touched his left knee with her hand as she turned and sat beside of him. "Jiro, are you all right?" She kept her hand in place as she looked down at him praying that he would say something.

[Jiro Lawson]

"I wanted it, Orenji...that's what hurts so badly...I asked him to go back to the back room with me...I deserved it...that's what kills me," he whispered into his arms. He turned his back on Orange, being sure that he hid the fact that he was wiping away tears befor he sat up again, taking a deep breath and putting a large smile on his face, looking back over at Orange.

"But that was two years ago, nothing to bother with now," he stood, stretching and heading towards the door again. "Well, if you need anything, you know where to find me. I am going to go find my brother, I need him. Have a good shower, and sorry I freaked out." He smiled again, then slid the door open and looked up the hall, then down it. He spotted his brother going into the kitchen. He wave.

"Kyoudai!" he called. Then he looked back at Orange and winked. "See you later, huh?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange didn't like how one moment he was acting like he had heard the worst story in the world, then pretended he was fine. She wasn't one who liked people who put on a show for their well being, but then again she had done it for many years. She stood up and saw him staring back at her as he winked. She wanted to smile and pretend that the whole scene and painful reminder didn't bug her as much as it did, but that would be lying for her own comfort and she was tired of it.

"Don't act like that, Jiro." She said lowly a bit angered that he couldn't at least show his feelings, then again this was a man she was dealing with. "Keep telling yourself you were at fault and pretty soon you'll start believing it." She clenched her jaw not really understanding why she was so angry at him for pretending as if he wasnt' hurt by the sudden shock of seeing her scar, Orange wasn't one who kept feelings hidden and she supposed she should allow him to treat his past any way he wanted to.

"See you, Jiro."

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro felt much better after he sat down and had a talk with his brother and let Taro gripe to him about something that had happened. He aways felt better after just being in his brother's presence.

Jiro took a deep breath and sighed, lying down on the table and looking up at his brother who was reading a novel. It felt as if they had been in space a long time, though really it had only been several hours. He had been wandering throughout the ship since he and Orange had talked. He watched Taro for a few moments before standing and walking around to stand behind his brother and read the Japanese in the book. He sighed loudly in his brother's ear before wrapping his arms around Taro's neck and hugging him.

"I am going to the cockpit to scout out Jesimae. I haven't seen her the whole trip. Why isn't she fooling around with you?" Jiro asked, looking at his brother, who kissed him on the cheek and stood as well.

"I dunno. But I'll come with you. Where's Orange?" his brother asked as they linked arms and began down the hall towards the cockpit.

"I sw her a few hours ago in her room. I haven't seen her since though. She is probably sleeping," he laughed/. "I would be."

[Orange Diren]

Orange stared up at the ceiling, the lights as low as they could go without being pitch black or too bright. She wished now she wouldn't have been so silly when Jiro left the room, but she couldn't help it that was the only way she could respond to the situation after all it had been many many years ago since she had talked about it, with herself.

She wondered what he was doing for it had been several hourse since she'd seen him, hell she didn't even know his brother's name or the woman on the ship as well. She slowly sat up and tossed her legs over the bed and headed towards the door, tying the sleeves of her clean coveralls around her waist so they wouldn't fall off. She felt slightly self conscious about the thin scar on her eye and even more self conscious now that she was clean and smelled normal. Hopefully, Jiro wouldn't be bitter about her odd behavior a little while ago.

She opened the door and walked to the lift trying to remember where the kitchen was.

[Jesimae Lawson]

It had been nearly three hours since she had any contact with anyone, she must've forgotten the time when she took her a hot bubble bath where she then crashed on Taro's bed. She had forgotten how comfortable it was and obviously drifted into a deep sleep for the next thing she knew she was waking up and stumbling around the room trying to find her way out so she could at least say hello to everyone.

She yawned as she walked towards the kitchen scratching her head after pulling it out of her pony tail. She hoped to god she didn't scare anyone whenever she saw them, for she knew her makeup was probably gone and she looked like death herself.

Jesimae squinted when she walked towards the bright light leaking out into the hall from the kitchen. She heard rummaging around and she hoped it was somone, hopefully not that girl. She didn't even know her name so she was afraid to even talk to her. She turned the corner and saw nobody in the kitchen. She frowned and yawned again realizing the sounds were coming from the cockpit.

"Hey, where the hell is everyone?" She called out not really feeling like going on a hunt.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro smiled when he heard Jesimae's voice echoing through the hall. He got up from the floor where he and Jiro were playing Japanese hand and card games. He went to the door and waved at her as she stood in the hall.

"Hey, Kanojyo!" he called, and then jogged towards her. When he reached her, he put his hands on her shouldes and kissed her cheek, leaning back and smiling at her. "Sorry if we abandoned you. I thought you probably needed to sleep. And me and Jiro got to have some brother time. We're in the cockpit playing around. You want to join us? Or I can make you some food if you're hungry."

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae smiled at him. For some reason it felt like she hadn't seen him in such a long time. It was nice to hear his voice and see his face the first thing when she woke up. She yawned and shook her head, waving a hand at him as she put her arm around his waist and walked towards the cockpit.

"Surprisingly I am not hungry." She looked around and then leaned in towards Taro's ear and whispered softly. "What is that one chicks name? I have no idea who she is let alone have any clue as to what she looks like." She felt bad for saying that but it was the truth.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro chuckled, taking her hand and walking back towards the cockpit where Jiro was sitting crossed legged on the floor. He smiled over his shoulder at Jesimae and then flopped down on the floor opposite his brother.

"Her name is Orange Diren. She's our mechanic. Ready?" Taro asked his brother as the scooted closer to each other and held thier hands up in anticipation of performing another hand game. When Jiro nodded, they began, Jiro singing the tune in Japanese, while Taro looked over his shoulder at Jesimae, and shrugged.

"Don't worry about not knowing her name she doesn't seem like the type who will want to hang around us much."

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae smiled and watched the two of them and sat down a few feet away from them to watch their game a little better. Taro's words rolling around in her mind. She hadn't seen her at all except once and she didn't even talk to her or even give her a notion that she realized she breathed.

"Orange Diren..what a name!" Jesimae sighed out remembering how she looked. She was a firey character and she was actually surprised Taro had agreed to let her come on the ship and be their mechanic, but she didn't really care for it was obvious the little fire cracker was hot on Jiro.

[Orange Diren]

Orange heard soem noises coming from down the hall where she stepped out of the lift, happy to notice this was where the kitchen and cockpit were. She was excited to have remembered for she felt that it was slipping her sometimes.

She bit her lower lip in anticipation as she walked by the kitchen to see it empty and bright. She then heard noises coming from the cockpit, loud and clear to be exact and the voice she heard was that one woman's mentioning her name.

"What about it?" She said as she entered the room to see the three of them on the floor, Jiro and his brother playing pattie cake, or at least that was what she thought first in her mind. She watched the woman give her an embarassed look and she simply smiled, knowing how bad she hated to have people talk about her behind her back, even if it was harmless.

"I thought I'd come and see what you all are up to, it was getting lonely in that room." She put one hand on her hip and glanced down at them with a grin, mainly looking at Jiro for she wanted him to see her for the first time clean.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro was concentrating hard on the complicated hand gestures he and his brother were performing. It was a new game that his brother had just recently taught him and it was taking him a long time to actually get it.

However, when Orange came into the room his eyes went to her almost immediately and, naturally, he was thrown off. His brother laughed triumphantly and rocked backwards, laughing at him. Jiro's eyes went from Orange to his brother and he scowled.

"Baka!" Jiro cried, attacking his older brother and grabbing him around the waist, pushing him onto the floor and sitting on his knees, straddling Taro's chest. He pointed down in his brother's face. "Watashi wo no baka choushou shi te ha ike nai! Watashi ga konran sa se ta koto wo shitte iru!"

"Okay, okay!" his brother laughed, pushing him off and sitting up, then standing. Jiro stood as well and his eyes looked back over at Orange. She was very clean and he culd smell the soap and shampoo. He took a deep breath through his nose and smiled. She looked even prettier without all the grease.

[Orange Diren]

Orange watched the two for a moment and she got a strange feeling in her stomach yet again. As Jiro straddled his brother, although playful as it was, she felt odd for the intimacy was too...she knew it was silly and it was just brotherly love, after all Jesimae was laughing as if this were nothing too touchy.

She smiled and laughed gently trying to rid herself of the feeling and allow them to be brothers. When Jiro stood up she smiled at him, perhaps a bit too proud of herself. She glanced away and then over to his brother and as he laughed and looked at Jesimae something caught her off guard, his face took an odd shadow that was somehow very familiar to her. She bit her lower lip and tugged on her lip ring and tried to hide the fact that she was smiling at him.

Orange turned and looked at Jiro and smild at him, for some reason he had grown a lot cuter while she was in the shower.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro chuckled, and looked back away from Orange to Jesimae and then back to his brother. He took a deep, deep breath and blew it out, glancing sidelong at his brother and poking him several times to make sure that he had gotten the message. His brother laughed and grabbed his hand, twisting it behind his back, pinning him there.

"Ittai!" Jiro squeaked, then he looked at Orange. "Ignore the big oaf back there. Are you hungry? do you want some food? I know I am starving, but I always am." He smiled back over his shoulder at his brother as Taro let him go and leaned backwards on his heels slightly. Jiro nodded. "So, I am going to go make food. Unless, Brother here is volenteering?" Jiro said looking hopefully at Taro who shook his head and smiled. Waving for them to follow him. Jiro smiled.

"See? I can get him to do anything!" Jiro ooked over his shoulder and winked at Jesimae, then followed his brother. "If you want food, get on the train."

[Orange Diren]

Orange laughed again, although it was false. She suddenly remembered why his brother looked so familiar and again she laughed, this time for the reason of remembering. She nodded as everyone seemed to stand up and migrate towards the door and to the kitchen.

"Why not!" She said with a smile as she walked out behind everyone, swaying her hips a bit more than she should have since Jiro walked behind her and she was sure he'd probably think she was spazzing out or something of the like since she wasn't one to make love to the wind with her hips.

Her mind raced with thoughts of things to do that would get Jiro to notice her this suddenly becoming her number one goal, but in the back of her mind she couldn't help but think of Jiro's brother, too. She couldn't believe it! Of all the people in the world to work for she was working for Tatsuki! Although she wasn't sure of the brother's name, she was almost certain that it was Tatsuki...who could forget a face, or body, like that?

[Taro Lawson]

Taro had been thinking ever since her first saw the girl that she looked familiar. He couldn't recall where he had seen her, but the way she had been reguarding him in the cockpit, he figured she must also recognize him.

As they all piled into the kitchen and the other three, sat down, chattering to one another, Taro threw a pot onto the stove and began some rice noodles and vegetables, racking hs brain as to why Orange looked so familiar. He scratched his head as he watched the noodles begin to boil and pulled a hair tie from his pocket, pulling his hair back into a messy pony tail as he stirred the noodles and checked in on the vegetables.

He turned and leaned on the counter where they were all sitting and looked at Orange, smiling, taking the moment to study her face, racking his brain. He took a breath.

"Hope you don't mind Japanese food...I'm afraid it's all we've got..." he said with a smile.

[Orange Diren]

Orange looked up at him and smiled, he was so hot! She was shocked to remember him so well, he was one of those she knew it'd be hard to forget, seeing him again was like a blast from the past...despite how filthy it was.

"Japanese is rock and roll!" She knew she was being overly excited, but if she could she'd easily turn Japanese rather than her English decent. She bit her lower lip and laughed. "You all should let me cook for you all, have you ever had hamburger and fries?" She looked at the woman then to Jiro, continuously grinning like a freak of nature she knew. Her senses were so wide awake, she had slept with Jiro's brother and this woman's man...how funny this all was to her! She knew it was wrong but she was gonna have to ask him sooner or later.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro could see her mood brighten considerably due to something. Something that was right in her eyes. Those eyes...

Taro's stomach hit the floor, as his mouth dropped slightly open. She was that girl in the bar. The exotic bar that he used to dance in for a living. The girl who had been right up front, leaned on the stage. The girl that had watched him all night. He couldn't believe it.

"Uh...no...we've never had that," he said, his voice sounding a little strained as he felt blood rush to his cheeks. If it came out, how was he ever going to explain it to Jesimae? He shuddered at that thought as he filled his cheeks with air and turned back t the stove, hoping that no one had noticed his discomfort.

It hadn't been every day in that idiotic bar that a girl like Orange had come along. Most of his fellow dancers had watched her the entire night, not the other way around. Taro just remembered being really eager to go home and sleep that night. Of course, she had utilized his services, and...Taro squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't believe she was working for him now. He could not believe it.

[Jesimae Lawson]

What was going on? Jesimae was easy to detect when there was a bad problem in the air, or discomfort really, but everyone seemed fine and and dandy...well except for Taro. She glanced over at him to see he was busying himself...what was going through his little head right then?

She glanced over at Orange to see she was smiling, a little too bright for her comfort, and glaring at Taro. She didn't like it one bit, but for some reason the look wasn't anything to be threatened by...it seemed more amused. Eitherway Jesimae wasn't too happy about it, one thing she knew...Orange had something in her mind that pertained to Taro, and she was going to find out sooner or later.

[Orange Diren]

Orange could feel that woman's look and she didn't like it one bit, but then again if someone was looking at her man she'd probably get mad about it too. She moved her eyes away from Taro, but still keeping that one night in her mind. It was the best thing she had purchased in a long time! She grinned and looked at Jiro, knowing she should at least focus on things that were more...obtainable.

"So, Jiro! How come you don't have a girlfriend?"

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro looked at Orange. He could feel the electrically charged air between she and his brother, and smiled a little bit before Orange's question actually registered. He screwed up his nose as if he had smelled something bad, then snorted.

"I did. Right before we left she dumped me...I haven't had the best luck with girls lately," Jiro said, leaning his chin on his hand.

"Haven't had the best of luck with anyone lately," came a muttered, but amused jab from his brother at the stove. Jiro looked over at his brother's back, sticking his tongue out.

"Yeah, yeah. Well--" but he cut off what he was about to say, as saying it might offend Jesimae. He cleared his throat, looking back at Orange. "I don't think girls are much into obsessive compulsive losers like yours truly. See, Cassanova over there just has to bat those big brown eyes and take off his shirt and anybody who has half a brain is all over him. I don't have quite that effect on people."

Jiro got up, walking around the counter they were sitting at and standing next to Taro. He looked down at the noodles, then leaned over to his brother's ear.

"Chotto sore ha nani wo anata oyobi kanojyo to aru ka. Keizoku shi te iru mono ga watashi ni iu koto wo e ta," he murmured into Taro's ear. His brother looked down at him and shook his head slightly.

"Atode," he whispered back, and Jiro shrugged turning back and looking at the two woman. He smiled wide.

"Besides, she was a Twi'leck, and hot on my old friend who I...roomed with for awhile. So, I hope thier happy!" he smiled wide again, glancing at his brother and winking.

[Orange Diren]

Orange watched Jiro as he talked, amused beyond all means by the way he talked. She watched him talk of his brother and, yet again, her mind travelled to that one night. She grinnend a listened to thim talk before he got up and stood next to his brother. Their words were too low so she couldn't pick up any words, then again her vocabulary wasn't the best anyhow.

"Well," Orange said in a sigh as she leaned her chin on her left hand. "I am sure that she is having fun missing you right about now. I know I would be." She smiled and winked at him. Any woman to ditch Jiro was a fool, there was no doubt in her mind! She'd take him that second if he'd let her...but she was almost positive now that he saw her as a mechanic and only a mechanic. Her attempts to look a little decent and shake her hips not doing her any justice, probably making her look more like a fool. She let her hand fall to the table, it had been so long since she had been with someone and she was terribly lonely...in the bedroom as much as in her heart.

"I am sure you'll find someone who will love you up and down and I am sure one look from you and they'll be the ones taking shirts off and batting brown eyes." She smiled and winked again, giving it one more shot. If this failed then she was going to have to find someone the moment she hit whatever rock they landed on.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled, feeling a tingle travel up his spine at her words. He couldn't help the image of Orange being the one taking off her shirt for him from creeping into his mind. The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile, as he undressed her with his eyes.

He bit his lips almost hard enough to craw blood, as he forced the thoughts away from his mind and stepped over to the counter, leaning over it and looking Orange straight in the eyes. They were deep and soft, while still having a hard outside that told Jiro immediately what she was feeling inside. He licked his bottom lip and touched a strand of her red hair that had fallen off her shoulder.

"I would much prefer the batting eyes to be green," he said quietly before standing back up, winking at her, and turning around, opening a drawer to fish out bowls and utensils. His body was on fire, and he blamed Orange. Why did she have to be so attractive?

[Orange Diren]

She bit her lower lip when he finally moved. She was holding her breath the entire time and she couldn't help but feel as if all the blood in her body rushed straight to her face. She was burning alive!! She needed air, she needed a cool place, she needed something that was going to stop her from literally jumping over the table and right on top of Jiro Lawson!

She looked away and down at the counter and tried to keep herself a normal shade of red but she knew it wasn't doing her any justice. Orange tugged on her lip ring and finally looked up to see Jiro grabbing utensils to eat on, if only she had something to say in response! Why couldn't she have been more clever? Her mind wasn't working properly, something Jiro did was literally shut down her brain capacity, but her body was fully functional!

"I'll be right back, I've got to go to the loo." This was a cop out, but she couldn't help it! She needed to throw water on her face to get the color out. Jiro had just done the worst thing in his life...if she had a moment alone with him he'd be in big trouble!

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro heard her make an excuse to leave. And suddenly, an idea struck Jiro as if someone had hit him over the head with a blunt object. It was a crazy idea, one that he had never done before, not after knowing someone for such a short time.

Questions raced through Jiro's mind. Should he do it? Was he brave enough? Would she think him an idiot? Would she laugh at him? Would she actually accept it?

But despite all this racing through his mind in the space of a second, he dropped the bowls on the counter and turned, muttering that he would be back, and going out the kitchen door. He looked down the hall to Orange's retreating form. She was nearly to the lifts.

Jiro quickened his pace to catch up with her, but by the time he had she was stepping onto the lift. Jiro took her wrist gently as he slid onto the lift with her and the door closed behind them. He was looking down into her face, his body heat causing his cheeks to redden, he was sure.

"Orenji," he whispered. For a split second he thought he wasn't going to be able to do it. But he ignored it and leaned down, touching his lips to hers, applying a small amount of pressure, praying to Buddha the whole time that she would not turnaway in disgust.

[Orange Diren]

Orange almost jumped out of her skin the second she felt his hand grab her around the wrist. When she looked up at him she swore she was going to pass out due to how hot her body felt, she was on fire! Jiro said her name and she almost fainted at his feet for it sounded so nice, especially in Japanese.

When he bent down and kissed her she felt her body almost fall backward against the lift's wall, but she remained strong and standing. She was surprised, but excited none the less Jiro didn't seem like the kind of person to do such a thing when she had only known him for a few hours, but she wasn't going to stop it! After all..it hadn't before.

She grinned and kissed him back, this time taking the upper hand and deepening the kiss and making it more intimate than he probably had planned, but she didn't care...she enjoyed a good rush of idiotic thinking every now and again. She lifted her right hand and put it on his bicep and kept the kiss going, despite the lift having stopped.

How ironic this was, a few years ago she was doing the exact same thing with Tatsuki, well she was doing more than kissing, but just the same she had made out with two brothers. As odd as it was in the back of her mind she was laughing curious if she had made out with any other of their brother's, that is if they had any.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro felt odd when she put her hand on his arm. He had been taking the kiss seriously, but for some reason the way she was kissing him made it seem as if she were being flippant about it, as if it meant nothing more to her than just a chance to swap saliva with someone. Be it he, or his brother, it didn't matter to her.

So, he pulled away, turning, not wanting to look at her and walking outside the lift, as the door had opened, and leaning against the wall next to it. He sighed, sliding down the wall and turning his head to look over his shoulder back into the lift.

"Sorry, Orange. I should have kept the hormones under control, and to myself. It won't happen again," he muttered, almost too quiet for he, himself, to hear.

[Orange Diren]

Orange leaned forward and opened her eyes when he moved and was quickly telling her how sorry she was. She bit her lip and looked at him slide down the wall and sit, as if he were a child getting punished for something. She cocked her eyebrow and looked at him, slightly peeved that he acted as if he let his mind slip.

"Well." She said not minding being honest, despite it causing her to make enemies quickly she wasn't willing to change her ways, honesty was her best policy. "A second ago you were hot as fire and now you are as cold as ice. Might I ask how the quick change came along?" She looked at him as she continued to stand in the lift, her left hand on her hip as she leaned on the door, waiting for him to explain why he was teasing her that way. It wasn't like she didn't want it! Hell, if nothing else she wanted Jiro more than anything in the world at that moment.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro shook his head, pressing his back against the wall, and standing, waving his hand in front of his face, and turning towards the doors down the hall, and began towards them.

"It's nothing. I chose the wrong time," he said, and then his quickened his pace, seeing the poster on his room door and wanting to get to it as quickly as he possibly could, leaving the ebarrassing situation behind him. He wanted to lock himself in his room, clean it, write in his journal, and drown the sound of his heart beating with loud music.

When he reached his door, he typed in the code and watched the door slide open, looking into the dark room and taking a deep breath, toeing off his shoes and glancing down the hallway, back towards the lifts, hoping not to see Orange there.

[Orange Diren]

Orange wanted to rip her hair out. What the hell was that? What did he just do? Why did he all of a sudden figure this was a wrong time? Everyone else was in the kitchen! They were alone! TOGETHER! What was wrong? Did she all of a sudden turn him off? Orange stood in the dark bedroom trying to think of what she could have done to cause him to seemingly be repulsed by her. If she smoked cigarettes she'd garauntee she'd be puffing away at that moment in time.

Jiro turned her on beyond all means and when he had snuck up on her and kissed her...she could've easily ripped her shirt off...and bat her green eyes...she stomped her foot, pouting that he did that. She knew she did something, nobody had ever done that to her before, ever! Only one person had left her...but that was for a good reason, sadly she was the one that left.

Damn, Jiro! Orange looked at her picture of Gackt and flopped down on the bed and let out a sigh. If she couldn't have Jiro at least she still had her pictures of Gackt, hey they resembled one another pretty well, except Jiro was twenty times hotter to her probably because he was closer and Gackt was...well...somewhere!

Orange stood up off the bed and walked out into the hall and knocked on Jiro's door. She was going to settle his dramatic exit right then and there! If he wanted her then he best let her know for she wasn't about to have another incident like that happen. She knocked again, praying he'd open the door. She just needed to ask a simple question.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro heard the knock on the door. He glanced up at the dor from his desk, his journal, and his pen. He shook his head leaning back as he finished the last few marks of the kanji character. He scooted his chair back, laying the pen down and going over to the door, hitting the pressure plate and watching the door slide open.

For some reason, he had honsetly not thought Orange was going to hunt him down in his room. He expected his brother, as he had talked to him over the intercom and his brother had said he might come up later, so he had not bothered, putting his shirt back on.

When he saw Orange standing there, his body went into overdrive. He sucked in a breath through his teeth, wrapping his arms around his scarred chest and backed up, seizing his shirt from his bed and snarling as he pulled it on over his head and crossed his arms over his chest as if to secure it on his body.

"Yes?" he asked, knowing his cheeks must be so red that they glowed.

[Orange Diren]

Orange wasn't expecting him to be so...moody? She couldn't tell if she had pissed him off somehow, but she couldn't help it! She wanted to just feel him kiss her again! Suddenly her heart melted and she was no longer mad or peeved about his running away like a kid. Orange couldn't help but remember his body. Although she had noticed a few thing scars she couldn't help but think of how hot it was.

She swallowed the fear in her stomach and drew in a breath and then let it out quickly. She was stupid, she knew now for a fact she was. She tugged on her lip and quickly letting it out tip toeing around what she wanted.

"Jiro..." She said feeling a bit of fear come over her. "May I come in for a while?"

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro walked resolutely over to his desk and shut his journal, putting it in one of the drawers, putting his pen into the holder at the front of the desk. He nodded at Orange slightly.

"Suit yourself," he said quietly, walking to a lamp in the corner and flipping it on, listening as she walked in and the door slid shut. He looked over at her and smiled a little at her still shoed feet.

"Could you please take off your shoes? Sorry if it's an inconvenience. Od habits die hard..." Jiro said, just then realizing how weird it was to ask someone to take thier shoes off in a room where there was no carpet and certainly no bamboo rugs as there might have been in an antique Japanese style house.

[Orange Diren]

Orange looked down at her shoes and then up to Jiro and smiled. She quickly discared her shoes and looked around his room at its masculine style, his Laruku poster caught her eye and she grinned remembering their conversation they had earlier...before everything seemed to go wrong. She breathed in deeply and smelled his scent and how is surrounded his room. It made her feel warm and fuzzy as stupid as that probably would sound had she mentioned it to him.

"Jiro, did I do something wrong?" She wasn't planning on asking him so soon but she wanted to know why he had recoiled like she had repulsed him. She bit her lower lip hard as she waited for his asnwer and slightly mad that she had to ask.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro shrugged, sitting on the bed, and drawing his legs off of the cold floor and crossing them, bringing out a notebook from his bedside table and flipping through it, reading all the Japanese characters he saw, and passing over all the English. He was tired of speaking it, tired of reading it. He didn't know why.

"No, I suppose not," he said quietly, talking to the notebook in his lap and the pen he had just discovered in it. He pulled out the pen and found a blank page, doodling on it, and signing his name several times. "I jumped forward a little quicker than I believe I should have. It's not your fault," he lied, speaking this time to a character on the page that he could not identify as his brother had written it and very sloppily.

He made a confused sound and scrutinized the rest of the sentace that his brother had written and decided that it must have been the ga character, as it was the only one that made sense with the rest of what he had said. He finally looked up at Orange and smiled a little.

"You don't have to worry about it, okay?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange felt odd, she had overstepped her bounds by all means. She nodded silently, she didn't know why but his words made her feel like a sledgehammer had just cracked her one right in the stomach. She lowered her eyes, slightly dissappointed, and turned and walked to his door. She bent down and grabbed her boots by their strings and looked over at him.

He was so attractive sitting there his eyes tracing the page he held in front of him. She knew that he was flirting earlier, but it was just empty promises that would eventually let her down. Luckily she hadn't given her heart away, like she did too many times. She could honestly fall in love with a man in one day if given the right time, after all she did it once before. She let out a silent sigh and nodded again.

"Sure." She said lowly as she opened the door and walked out. Mechanic's weren't allowed to like their employer's but she couldn't help it, for some reason she liked Jiro far more than she should have after just meeting him many hours ago. She went to her door and opened it and walked into the darkness and tossed her shoes away from her, falling face first on the bed. Jiro sucked, really bad for not liking her.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro knew he must have hurt her feelings. And he was stabbing himself in the face for doing it. But...he was very personal about when and how he kissed people these days. Ever since he had given up being someone you paid for sex, he only kissed someone if he really meant it. And the way she had kissed him had made him feel as if she just wanted someone, anyone, to just make out with her. And that had not been his intention. So maybe it really was his fault. In fact, it probably was. But he didn't know what to say. What would she have thought? 'Sorry, Orange, you didn't kiss me the right way so now I'm mad at you.' That would have gone over well.

Standing and tossing his notebook on his bed, and followed Orange out his door going down the hall, this time he being the one doing the chasing. When he arrived a her door, he leaned on the frame and looked down at his feet.

"Orenji? I know you can hear me through this door, so there is no reason for me to intrude upon your privacy," he said loudly, knowing he did have to raise his vice slightly so that she could hear him. "Do you want to know the truth, Orenji-chan? I...I am really touchy about who and how I kiss someone, and I wouldn't have kissed you just now had I now absolutely meant it. And...maybe I should have given you a manual or something because...I guess I thought you could read my mind. But..."

And for some reason he had to stop, and talk to himself for a moment, saying it in Japanese to himself, getting all the words in order before trying to say them in English. He sighed loudly.

"I just felt like...you weren't taking it quite as seriously as I thought you should have," he gritted out, praying that she wuld not burst out and deck him a good one. He knew she could have. "And there wasn't any way for you to have known anything like that, so...I'm sorry...I guess I really ruined it this time, eh?" he chuckled a little, leaning back. "Sayouara, Orenji-chan."

And he turned, making his way back to his room.

[Orange Diren]

Orange lifted her head off the bed and glanced at the door where she heard him talking. She grinned the whole entire time, it was her fault for not letting him now how bad she wanted that kiss to continue, but she did have her mind on Taro adn other Lawson brothers. It wasn't really the right thing to think about, especially during a kiss, and she should apologize for that but telling him that she had slept with his older brother wouldn't go over well...period. She heard him go back into his room and she slowly crawled off her stomach and over to the door, slightly grinning that they were both going back and forth to one another's door. She put on a serious face and walked out and to his room, not putting on her shoes either.

She knocked on his door and gently smiled again thinking he was going to get annoyed at her if she did this one more time. "Jiro?" She said turning back to seriousness. "Would it be okay if I tried that kiss again?"

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro was sure that Orange would have thought him a complete idiot if she had been able to see just exactly how fast he had scrambled off his bed and stumbled towards the door when he heard her voice. Luckily, she was out there and he was in here. Jiro gained his composure before he touched the pressure plate, his face straight and, he hoped, impassible.

He looked down at Orange who was standing there, as beautiful as she had been from the very first moment he had seen her. He blinked once then twice, as if trying to make sure that she was absolutely and posotively real. Because no other girl he had told this to had ever given him this kind of answer. They had dumped him on the spot.

As if cementing the fact that she was in fact real, he put his hands on her shoulders, and smiled wide, pulling her into his room, shutting the door behind her and leaning down touching the corner of her mouth with his lips and slosing his eyes.

"Arigatou," he murmured.

[Orange Diren]

Orange was in a dream she knew, especially when she found herself on the other side of the door and Jiro touching the corner of her mouth his his lips. She felt her body temperature rise to a dangerous level when she felt his mouth move gently against her own when he said Arigatou She closed her eyes gently and put her right hand on his side and moved her head slightly and made contact with his lips. She wanted to taste him in an explosive manner, wanted to prove to him that she wanted to kiss him the way he wanted her to, let her know what he wanted for she'd rather have him be pleased than herself.

"Show me how you want me to kiss you." She said in a soft whisper, opening her eyes slowly and looking at him, her face red from the heat. She was nuts for talking like this let alone telling him exaclty what she wanted without necessarily doing so.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled, taking her hands in his own and entwining thier fingers, gently tipping his head and running his tongue over her lip ring, tugging at it slightly. Heat crept up his legs and back hitting his neck and flaring into his face, causing it to redden even more than he was sure it already was.

Jiro allowed his mouth to open slightly against hers, letting his tongue touch her lip and lip ring, hoping she would be receptive. Then he pulled back half a hair and looked at her green eyes, speaking against her mouth.

"Just like you mean it."

[Orange Diren]

Orange slightly frowned the pain in her stomach causing her body to go into overdrive. The playful tugging on her lip ring sent a shiver down her spine and she swore she was going to literally melt in his arms and into the floor. She fought back the smile and turned it into a grin. "If you want it, you got it." She winked at him and lifted her left hand and put it around his neck and stepped closely to him and pushed her lips against his and cracked her mouth slightly, putting out the welcome mat waiting for him to step in.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro jolted awake his eyes falling on his door, and his desk next to it. The blankets had worked thier way off of his naked body and were pooled around his feet. He stretched out as a cat might have done and checked his watch. He couldn't believe they had actually slept some, and right through the night too, though technically it was always night in space.

Jiro turned over, looking at the small person next to him and smiled at the red hair. He stretched his arms up, all of his bracelets falling down his arms in unison. He sat up, putting his legs over the side of the bed and standing walking to his dresser and pulling out a pair of jeans. He didn't recognize them. They must have belonhed to his brother. He pulled them on and went to his dresser, pulling out his journal and his favorit pen and opening to the next blank page and began writing, glancing only once over his shoulder to make sure his stirrings had not awoke Orange.

[Orange Diren]

She could hear faint laughter in the distance, the waves were coming and going at her feet as the warm breeze lapped around her, strands of her red hair being picked up and dancing across her face and in front of her eyes, at one point or another catching in her lashes. She could smell the ocean breeze, the enticing scent sending a shiver down her spine as she closed her eyes, the laughter continuing in the distance. The sound of the waves crashing onto the shore eased her and she could feel her whole body relax in an oasis like state.

The warm crystal clear water crashed over her feet and she could feel them sinking deep into the bronze colored sand, squshing in between her toes. The foam that was left from the waves tingled on her ankles, this was something she wanted to hold on to forever, a place where time wasn’t an issue, there wasn’t a thing to do, and the only thing there was to think about was how the water was so blue.

She opened her eyes again and looked out into the distance, not knowing where the world stopped and heaven began. She crossed her arms and took a deep breath inward feeling the saltine air against her tongue as her eyes scanned the mass in front of her.

“Orange!” She heard her name in the distance and she turned her head to see where it was coming from. There, in the distance, on the sandy hill that was tainted wth green from the beaches exotic sand grass, she saw him standing, waving at her. The hair got into her eyes and she struggled to see. He continuously called out for her, his voice seeming more distant than the next. “Orange!” She tried to push her hair out of her eyes but she couldn’t, the wind was too harsh, her hair too wild, the sun too blinding.

By the time she had finally been able to see the man was gone and she was no longer on the beach, but in a red desert with a dark moon casting over the rolling dunes of sand, the sand storms stung her skin and snakes were crawling at her naked feet. She screamed, but there was no sound, nothing but the sound of the wind howling and eerie figures crossing the sand dunes.

Orange’s eyes flew open and she silently gasped, afraid that the dream was a reality. When she saw she was in Jiro’s room she closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief. How stupid minds worked! She felt a cool breeze hit her back and she realized she had no covers on her at all. She slowly opened her eyes and was glad to see that she had at least gotten five hours of sleep. She grinned and felt her cheeks grow warm when her mind somehow found its way back to the night before. She didn’t think she’d ever want to take a break, let alone stop and fall asleep, but she was glad they did.

She had experienced many encounters in her sex life back in the day and her memory had them all neatly filed so she could judge one by one who was better than the other. Just a few heated hours with Jiro Lawson and she didn’t even have to think of anyone else, he had been the best hands down, no buts about it. She grinned and pushed her head into the pillow, there were things she did last night she would never have imagined doing. Hell, there were things she had done last night she had never even heard or thought of!

At first Jiro had been a little shy, but Orange found out that once he was turned on there was hardly any stopping him. His shyness wasn’t a genetic emotion, but rather a learned behavior due to the scars that were tattooed all over his body. On any other person she swore she would have found them repulsive, but on Jiro...she didn’t know why, but she loved them. She didn’t care to ask how he received them or why, the only scar she knew the truth behind being the emblem that branded her back, too. She took her time letting Jiro understand how she didn’t judge him on whether or not his flesh was flawless by simply kissing the ones that looked most painful as if this were helping him fully heal. Orange had traced the emblem on his back with her finger when they had finally crashed, Jiro had been laying on his stomach while she leaned on his back. She didn’t know why, but seeing Jiro had been through the same ordeal somehow changed her view on her scar. She didn’t want to tell him, and she probably never would for fear he’d think she was psychotic, but it made her feel closer to him and suddenly she found herself falling in love with Jiro’s scar, falling in love with her own scar.

Orange knew this was wrong, that she was being a fool, but when she had the opportunity to love someone she took it on full steam ahead. But it was crazy, she knew it was. Jiro would probably laugh and tell her to get out so that was why she was going to keep it a secret, a deep dark secret. One day was not long enough to know someone, not long enough to fall in love. But then again she had done it many times before. She tried to keep her mind under control, love was not an option at this point. This was a one night stand...well maybe not one night, it was too perfect to never do again.

She lifted her head off the pillow and looked around, finding Jiro sitting at his table, writing in, what looked like, a notebook very quickly. She grinned seeing his back shimmer in the low light from the stars, again her mind going back to the night before. She bit her lower lip and slowly moved off the bed, stepping over pieces of clothing she didn’t care to put on. She walked over behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, under his arms and felt his warm chest against the palm of her hands. She kissed his neck and glanced at the paper that was filled with Japanese characters. Her mouth moved in soft cirlcles as her eyes traced the page in front of him noticing a few characters the word Taro had been written a lot as well as ai and other characters that showed affection and love. She was slightly curious as to what Taro meant, but she didn’t let Jiro know she could read it for it wasn’t important.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro jumped slightly when he felt her kiss him and wrap her arms around him. But once he got over that initial shock, he leaned back in his chair, taking a deep breath and putting his pen down, streatching back and running his hands through Orange's hair. He didn't bother closing his journal as he figured that she wouldn't be able to read it.

Leaning back and looking at her over the chair he stood and turned to face her, wrapping his arms around her waist and putting his face in the bend of her shoulder to her neck, taking a deep breath, breathing in her scent, his mind getting hurled back to the night before. He remembered being shy at first, not wanting her to see the scars he had from previous partners and lovers. But Orange had eased him out of it, gotten him to that point of no return when it just didn't matter anymore.

"Good morning, Orenji," he said, leaning back and turning around putting his pen back into the top drawer that was already stuffed full of notebooks and loose leaf papers. He turned back to Orange and yawned wide, fixing his bracelets and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. His back ached slightly and he looked towards the bathroom, brushing some of Orange's hair out of her face. He looked back at her.

"I think I am going to go have a shower. Join me?" he asked, smiling slightly.

[Orange Diren]

Orange grinned and drew in a deep breath, she wasn't one to take showers with others whenever having the opportunity to be by herself after all she showered with many men everyday the port. She kissed him and wrapped a hand around his waist and tried to tell him no in he kindest was possible.

"I'm not really in the mood for a shower. I still like having your smell on me." She winked at him and let her hand drop. "If you want you can go ahead and tkae one?"

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled, kissing her on the cheek and holding out his hand to indicate a CD player and a stack of CD's in the corner.

"Help yourself to music and if you get hungry, my brother is up I'm sure and he'll make something for you. I'll be out in a little bit," Jiro said, smiling and unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans, turning and walking into the bathroom, rubbing his hand over his old scorpion scar. He shut the door behind him and starting up the shower, getting in gratefully.

[Orange Diren]

Orange bit her lower lip as she watched him walk away. She was absolutely over the moon for Jiro there was no doubt in her mind! She let out a sigh and walked over to the pile of clothes and grabbed a shirt not realizing it was Jiro's. She pulled it on and grabbed her coveralls and wuickly tied the sleeves at the waist. She grabbed a CD of Jiro's noticing it was Miyavi. She stuck it in the player and turned it up on the highest level. She hissed when it hurt her ears and noticed that she wasn't in the normal atmosphere of the port. She turned it down and shook her head nad turned around and walked over to his desk. She was bored without him and she realized maybe she should've gone to the shower with him, but when she glanced at the notebook on his desk her eyes glanced over his journal.

She frowned when she was pulled into what he had written, again seeing many characters meaning love or affection then Taro written everywhere. She flipped through the pages and frowned, her mind racing with all these characters and words. What the hell did Taro mean? She closed the journal feeling a bit mad that she had snooped, but she couldn't help it she was curious whenever she saw those ai characters. She stood up and walked over to his bed and laid down on it, singing along with the words to Pop is Dead, one of her favorite songs by Miyavi. What was Taro?

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro was working a nice lather through his hair when he heard his brother's voice over the intercom.

"Jiro, you awake in there?" he asked in Japanese. Jiro smiled.

"Yeah, but I'm in the shower. I'll be out in a minute. I'm going to switch you to the room. See if Orenji is hungry or anything, I can't imagine she isn't," he answered. Jiro leaned out of the shower and touched a keypad, switching his brother's voice to the room.

"Orange? It's Taro. My brother wants me to ask you if you're hungry. I am up here in the kitchen. If you're hungry, I can make you something," he said, and Jiro could hear it faintly over the shower.

[Orange Diren]

Orange lifted her head and her mouth dropped open. Taro!!! That was his name! She took a moment trying to gather her thoughts from surging over what she had seen, Taro this Taro that...love love love, sexy, love, hot...what the hell was Jiro writing in there?

"I am, actually. I will meet you in the kitchen." She moved quickly and jogged out of the room. If he was Taro...who was Tatsuki? Orange made it her goal to find out. The second she had a moment alone with Taro she was going to call him Tatsuki.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro took his hand off of the intercom and scratched his head, looking around him at the kitchen. He couldn't start any food until Orange got down there. But he could have glass of Osaka Wine.

Turning, Taro fished out a bottle from a drawer on the bottom. He popped the cork and got a wine glass from a cupboard, pouring the dark drink into it and taking a drink smiling at the taste. He hadn't had any of this since they had landed on Coruscant from planet hopping years ago. He had forgotten how much he liked it.

Taro checked his watch, wondering breifly if Jesimae was awake, he turned to the stove and started it up, thinking about what he wanted to eat while he waited for Orange.

[Orange Diren]

Orange turned the corner once she got off the lift a bit mad that she had forgotten to put on her bra and there she was freezing. She crossed her arms in case something happened to show too well in front of Taro. If memory served her correctly he had already seen everything there was to see!

She almost gasped in fright when she saw Taro leaning over the stove a glass of wine right beside him. She looked at the liquid then the bottle. She grinned and walked into the bright room remembering that was what they had to drink when they spent their night together, if this was him.

"Morning." She said happily as she walked in with a big smile, larger than it should have been. She walked over to him knowing in her mind she should honestly watch herself, but her mind was going crazy! She had to know if this was the same man she had that one amazing night with. She remember last night and suddenly there was competition, Jiro and Taro...they were close when it came to the bedroom.

"Did you sleep well..." She looked away from the stove and up to his face. This was him, it had to have been and she was gonna prove it. "Tatsuki?" She said lowly, almost in a teasing and sexual tone. The way she had said it so many years ago. Hopefully, he'd remember.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro's brow immediately drew down at her words, and his eyes snapped to her. He turned slowly, his back rigid. He looked down at her, slowly picking up his glass of wine, and taking a small, but slow, drink. Then he glanced out the door to make sure they were alone, before leaning forward towards her.

"Don't call me that," he said quietly, keeping his voice soft, not reproachful, but firm enough to let her know he meant it. "My name is Taro Lawson. I left that club a long time ago, and don't intend to go back. And please, don't say anything to neither my brother, nor Jesimae."

Taro leaned back again, blinking once then twice, and pulling his hair back into a pony tail, crossing his arms over his bare chest.

[Orange Diren]

Orange watched him and grinned, she knew it! She couldn't forget that handsome face, that sekushii body, that smile! God! She swore she was in love with that man after one night, she would've done it again and again and again but she had met someone else, but she had remembered that night like it were a dream, or like it had happened the night before. He had been so marvelous and so sexy...she was getting warmed up just thinkin about it.

"Sure, Tatsuki." She smiled and nudged his arm with her elbow as she stood next to him looking up at that attractive face. She drew in a sigh and nodded turning the conversation to serious. "I haven't forgotten you, or that night. I never got to tell you how much I enjoyed it." She let out a soft laugh, she couldn't belive she had slept with two brothers!

[Taro Lawson]

Taro took a step over to get some distance between them as he snorted slightly and looked back over to her.

"It was a job, and you were a customer. I think you bought me dinner that night, so I suppose I should thank you. But I mean it, Ms. Diren. I am not an exotic dancer anymore, and I don't want to be called that," he said lowly, in his throat. Then he looked back at the stove. "Now. Can I make you food?"

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae rubbed her stomach, she was straving! By the time she has noticed Taro was MIA she knew where he might've been, the kitchen.

She had stopped halfway there and put her back against the wall like some Japanese ninja when she heard Orange speaking to Taro. She knew it was wrong to easvedrop but she didn't trust Orange, the way she had looked at Taro yesterday...it didn't sit right. Then again Jesimae knew she could've been jealous of her since she was so spunky and perky, hell even cute. But when she heard the distinct sound of Taro saying he was doing a job...Jesimae was glad she had stopped to spy.

"Don't be so touchy! It was years ago, all I am saying was that it was one of the best nights I had ever had with a man, even if I did pay for it." Jesimae raised her eyebrows in shock, did she just hear Orange say that!?

Jesimae wanted to just wait and see what he said, but she was too mad, she wanted to go in there and rip her little ponytails off her head! Luckily Orange stated she had to go to the bathroom and when she walked out of the kitchen they locked eyes. Jesimae stared a hole right through her and it took every muscle in her body to keep her mind and body from literally attacking her. Orange's jaw dropped and she glanced into the kitchen but didn't say anything. She just left. Jesimae was glad because if she was going to say something it'd be nothing nice.

Jesimae turned and walked into the kitchen to see Taro drinking down something in a wine glass. She wanted to push his face into the stove's burner, but she refrained.

"What are you doing...Tatsuki!?" She couldn't help it, she had to say something!

[Taro Lawson]

Taro looked around at Jesimae as she came in and exploded at him. She had heard something that she shouldn't have. Had heard Orange say something, heard him say something. His stomach hit the floor as he looked down in his wine glass and then set it down on the counter.

He bit his tongue hard to prevent himself from telling her to ignore it. He knew that that would have been very stupid, telling her to forget what she had heard. He knew she would deck him a good one, making sure he never heard out of one ear again.

"What did you hear, and what do you want to know?"

[Jesimae Lawson]

"Hmm....gee...let me think! I heard all of it, Taro! Tell me...were you a man whore?" Jesimae crossed her arms and looked at him. She was more hurt than mad, did he all of a sudden forget that part of his past? Suddenly she felt bad, for she had remembered how they argued a lot about the issue of him opening up to her. She swallowed and looked away.

"Just..." She rubbed her eyes and tried to think of a way to let him know she wasn't going to yell at him or try and kick him in the nuts, even though she wanted to..very bad! "did you sleep with Orange?" She couldn't help but suddenly find that funny. She let her hand drop from her face and she looked up at him and tried to contain her grin, but of all the people in the universe he slept with the mechanic. "Just tell me this was a long time ago."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro took a deep breath, suddenly being thrown back to that night that seemed so long ago when they had battled so horribly abut Taro and hs past and he not sharing it with her. He had to tell her, he didn't want to lose her, he was sure his spirit would die if he lost her over this.

Setting his jaw and looking up at Jesimae, he gave her a look to let her know he was going to talk about this squarely with her and not sidestep her question. He wanted her to know, he actually was trying to be more open with her.

"Yes. When I was twenty I worked at an exotic bar as a dancer, and part of that was that I was required to sleep with anyone who took an extra interest in me. Orange happened to be one of those customers. Tastuki was my stage name because Taro wasn't flashy enough and didn't fit well on the posters they made," Taro took a deep breath and let it out, glancing down at the floor then back up at her. "If it makes you feel any better, I only worked there because I had to. It was after Jiro left me, and I was hurting for money. I don't take pride in the things I did there, and I would have rathered that Orange never brought it up. And I told her so. I was afraid of telling you. I'm sorry."

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae slit her eyes as she watched him talk quickly and update her in the most blunt way possible. Instead of being furious for his withholding information from her she couldn't help but...laugh, long and hard.

She tried to breathe but she couldn't. Why was she finding this so damn funny for? She turned away, knowing she was probably pissing Taro off, but he had slept with Orange...not only that but he was a prostitute. She turned around and wiped the tears out from under her eyes. She walked over to him and put her arm around his waist and put her head on his shoulder, trying to stop her laughing.

"It's okay Taro. I'm sorry for laughing, but I could never imagine you as a hooker." She looked up at him and touched his face with her free left hand. "I love you and whatever happened in the past...it's the past. We argued a lot over it and I am happy you shared it with me. I am sorry I eavesdropped, we won't have to mention it again, okay?" She leaned up and gave him a gentle kiss on his cheek and sighed.

"But, for the record, I don't like Orange one little bit."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro let out a rather shuddering breath as he let his arms wrap around Jesimae and kiss her on the head. Actually, thinking about it all, and thinking of Jesimae laughing, he had to chuckle a little as well. He had never thought of himself as a hooker before, but that's what he had been. He leaned his head on Jesimae's, then leaned back and sighed.

"Now that that's over with. Can I please busy myself with food?" he asked, a hint of begging in his voice. He was too old for this kind of drama. He wasn't sixteen and anymore!

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae laughed and pinched his butt and winked at him. "Sure, although I seem to enjoy drama." She let out a sigh and looked at the door where she saw Orange slowly walking in. Jesimae wanted to still go over to her and smack her face for even having the opportunity to see Taro naked, then again she had just promised Taro she wasn't going to bring it up again. She looked at Taro and pinched his side.

"I'm going to go take a shower. Love you." She made sure Orange heard that, jealousy again taking a hold of her. She turned and walked out of the kitchen giving Orange the evil eye as she walked on by. It was a long time ago...she needed to not worry about it for apparently she and Jiro were hitting it off pretty well.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro smiled a little, turning back to the stove as Jesimae left and Orange came back. Kicking his mind back into the mood he had been when he had woken up, he glanced over his shoulder at Orange and smiled a little.

"I need your order. I'm afraid our menu is rather limited though, as we haven't installed a food simulator yet. We have curry and vegetables, rice noodles, vegetables, heat up noodles, chicken and vegetable noodles and some lobster noodles too, I think," Taro said, turning and leaning on the stove. "And did you happen to see my little boy? I need to talk to him."

[Orange Diren]

Orange smiled and walked into the kitchen and shrugged her shoulder. “I think I’ll have noodles.” She joked after hearing the long list of all the noodles they had aboard. She took a seat at the table knowing by the look that Jesimae had given her that she shouldn’t stand too close to Taro, although in her mind he’d always be Tatsuki. She leaned her elbows and drew in a deep breath, did Taro just say his little boy?

Her mind went back to the journal she had glanced at, what in the Universe was going on between these two? If memory served her correctly she swore she had seen yaoi scrawled on a page, not like there was anything wrong with that it was just a little odd to see his brother’s name thrown in there so many times. Again her mind scanned through the things she had witnessed when she came onto their ship, didn’t they hold hands once? Jiro pinched Taro...they hugged alot...and she swore she heard a daisuki or two. They were brothers, sure, and it wasn’t odd to see two Japanese men holding hands, but she wasn’t fond of two brothers...

Orange shook her head and leaned off her elbows not liking where her mind was going. Brother’s loved one another, sure, but they didn’t hold hands, didn’t express such love so openly, not like these two were. That made her very uncomfortable.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro began on the noodles, listening to the silence that had fallen and watching the boiling water on the stove. He heard someone else walk into the room and glanced over his shoulder to see his brother. He smiled wide.

"Utsukushii ohayou. Nani no watashi no ai hoshii to omou ka?" he asked, smiling a little wider when Jiro rolled his eyes and then waved his hand in front of his face.

"Iie, kekkou desu, saiai no hito," he answered and Taro nodded, turning back to the stove and listening as Jiro sat down next to Orange.

[Orange Diren]

Orange watched the two with intersted eyes, their speaking slightly entertaining her, but her mind was seriously considering the possibility that these two might be more than just "brothers". She tried her best to remain in a normal state of mind but it was complicated, especially since she becoming more uncomfortable just seeing the two together.

She allowed her mind to slip when Jiro took a seat next to her, if she didn't feel so out of place amongst the two she'd scoot as close to him as possible, but she wasn't really wanting Taro to know she had just had a randy night with his younger brother. Sadly she had to keep herself in the same place, watching him with judging eyes as Taro and Jiro talked.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro yawned slightly as he sat and ran his fingers through his hair watching his brother's back for a moment before looking at Orange and smiling.

"Sorry. I guess I didn't give an official good morning. Ohayo gozaimas," he said, bowing a little to her and then winking, before readjusting himself in his chair so that he was closer to her. He looked back over at his brother. "Kyoudai yoku nemutta ka?"

"Hai, hai, Jiro-kun," his brother answered absentmindedly as he brought out three bowls and three pairs of chop sticks. Jiro looked at Orange.

"Chop sticks okay? Sorry we don't have forks or spoons. They're all at our apartment and few and far between even there. We need to get a good supply of them," he said, wrinkling his nose and looking at his brother who nodded slightly as he leaned over the counter to set the bowls in front of them.

[Orange Diren]

"Morning..." She was about to say something that would let Taro know that she had successfully shagged his brother so she quickly closed her mouth and turned it into a smile. Calling Jiro sexy wouldn't be very...normal.

Orange looked at him and smiled, forcing herself to think of good things. She nodded and glanced at the chopsticks. "If there is a food that can be eaten with chopsticks...I usually do." She tilted her head and played with a strand of her hair. She felt so odd, the past few minutes had been the oddest. She had Taro's woman hate her, he probably did too, she was thinking about two brothers and yaoi...what a way to start a morning off.

"Did you sleep well?" She asked him praying to God Taro didn't know that they had slept together, not only would Taro probably hate her but he'd probably think she was this big slut, which in reality she once was.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro looked sidelong at her, blinking once then twice. He smiled, turning to looked at her. He knew she probably didn't want his brother to know that they had been together the night before. But his brother knew, it had been a little difficult not to know. They had missed eating because of it. Jiro smiled, looking over at Taro who began whistling ashe threw a furtive glance over his shoulder.

"Uh...yeah," he laughed. He leaned over and kissed her ear, grazing it with his lips as he spoke. "Don't worry about him. He's harmless, and won't think a thing of it." When he leaned back, he smiled a little wider at her.

[Orange Diren]

Orange felt her arms get goosebumps. As she lifted her hands and grabbed her upper arms to protect herself from the sudden chill seh realized she was wearing Jiro's shirt anyhow. If Taro didn't know then he was naive and ignorant. She felt her face grow warm, but her body continuously chilled do to the vibration she felt from Jiro's voice. She wanted to think Taro was harmless, but he wasn't, not completely. She knew that Taro was thinking bad things about her and in reality she wasn't sure why she'd honestly care so much, but then she understood that Jiro was his brother and he probably wanted what was best for him.

Orange knew that she wasn't the best he could be with, but that was her past...right? She glanced over at Taro to see he wasn't paying any attention and then she looked at Jiro and smiled, shyly. Jiro was so cute that he made her want to slap herself in the face. Refraining from doing so she simply rubbed her arms praying she'd stop feeling the after effects of Jiro's voice. But she wanted to hear it again!

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro laughed standing up when he noticed that his brother had burned himself on the pot. He walked over to his brother and grabbed a towel, muttering into his brother's ear, telling him to take his hands off of the pot. His brother obeyed, taking his hands off of it and Jiro took it, burning himself ony slightly.

"Oh...ittai," Jiro muttered, turning and putting the pot on the counter in front of Orange. "Here we are. Yum." Taro came around and put long chop sticks into the pot and began to serve each bowl.

[Orange Diren]

Orange felt relieved when Jiro didn't go over and kiss Taro's wounds, for she swore it was coming. But when he sat the pot in front of her she almost died. It smelled so good. She was ready to just stick her face into the pot and eat it all up, after all she hadn't eaten since the day before and she had skipped dinner and went straight to dessert.

She grabbed a bowl and a pair of chopsticks and was ready to dive in but she stopped and hovered her pair over the bowl. With her free right hand she closed her eyes and touched her forehead, heart, left shoulder, then her right. Whispering lowly as she did so, thanking Jesus for the food. When she opened her eyes she glanced up to see Taro and Jiro looking at her...strangely. Suddenly she realized...they probably weren't religious people.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled, looking down at his bowl and beginning to eat. He had learned to pray in his mind and after he took his first bite he pulled out his small bag on his necklace and showed it to Orange.

"It's alright. I pray too, don't be uncomfortable," he said, smiling, pulling off the necklace and laying it in front of Orange. He nodded to it. "Look inside. I'm afraid I'm not a Christian or anything like that, so I hope that doesn't make you uncomfortable."

[Orange Diren]

Orange had figured they were buddhist's or nothing at all. Many Japanese people she knew ended up being Buddhist's but she rarely discussed it for she felt the only right religion was Catholocism.

She quickly put many noodles in her mouth, so much in fact her cheeks puffed out and she swore had a little bit more been piled in she'd be spitting it out. She chewed and quickly swallowed and sat her chopsticks down and glanced at the necklace and picked it up, gently. She opened it and glanced inside. She grinned and let out a gentle laugh. Yup, Buddhism was their preferred religion. She glanced up at him and nodded.

"Buddha, I like that you at least have a religion." She closed the bag and scooted it over towards him. "Sorry, I cannot understand." She felt slightly nervous, she was simpleminded when it came to religion and Buddhism was really not one she could understand...let alone accept as a religion period. To her, it was idolatry.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro nodded.

"Most people can't. To them its just a stone statue. I dunno why I'm so into it. It isn't like any god ever helped me, or Brother," Jiro shrugged, continuing to eat. He decided he wanted something. He got up, and went to the pantry, opening the door and walking inside. He fetched a pack of egg crackers from the top shelf. He emerged and opened the pack, taking some of the crackers and crumbling them into his noodles. He offered them to his brother who took a few, then Jiro handed them to Orange. "Do you want some?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange felt a little anger flare up when seh heard Jiro suddenly diss her God. She clenched her jaw and tried to let it smoothly roll off of her, but it didn't help calm her for she was truly offended. She shook her head no after he offered her crackers.

She looked down at her bowl and quickly ate. She wanted to smack his face then again she probably offended him as well when seh told him she didn't understand. If she told hi, what she had been thinking about Buddhism she could only imagine how mad he'd get.

She looked up at him as she ate, then over to Taro who ate crackers. She felt awkward. She didn't know why, but she wanted to quickly eat and go take a shower. Being near Taro was making her skin crawl, especially when he stood next to Jiro. Any moment, at least in her mind, she could see Taro touching Jiro...she closed her eyes and tried to stop her mind from travelling to something completely off subject. She sighed and reopened them and looked at Jiro.

"Religion in general...it is hard to understand." She at least made a compromise on her view of religion.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro nodded, finishing his bowl of noodles and turning around, turning off the stove. He looked around and asked his brother if he was finished. Taro nodded handing him the bowl. Jiro took it and laid it next to his. Speaking quietly and in Japanese, Taro told Jiro he was going up to the cockpit. Jiro nodded, waving to his brother.

"Daisuki," he said. His brother waved again.

"Daisuki, Jiro-kun," he answered and left. Jiro looked back at Orange. He smiled a little.

"Sorry if I offended you about the religion thing. You seemed a bit upset about it," he said, reaching into the bag of crackers and eating one.

[Orange Diren]

Orange finally felt relief. Taro was out of the room and she no longer felt like the biggest rip in the whole galaxy. If Jiro found out that she slept with his brother...it was untelling what'd he probably say to her. Orange bit her lower lip as she put her chopstick's in the empty bowl, she was treating last night as if they had consummated love. She really hated how easily she could fall in love with someone...not that she was with Jiro or anything.

Orange stood up and grabbed her bowl taking it over to the sink without even thinking, holding the bottom of her coveralls with her left hand. She sat it down and quickly tied her sleeves, preventing them from falling down. She looked over at Jiro and smiled.

"Don't worry about it. I don't know why I hold onto religion that much, old habit I suppose." She reached back and let her fingertips slide under Jiro's shirt where she could feel the scar, it being a nervous habit whenever she remembered her true past. She had received it by being a barfly and one who was obsessed with sex, especially if it were guilt free.

She drew in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "Religion kept me company while I worked at the port. It was all I had, aside from my JRock."

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro's muscle's tensed at the feeling of her hand touching his scar. Ever since he had recieved it, his were the only fingers that had ever traced the shape, and now to have someone else doing so, someone else who shared the scar, made Jiro feel a strange spiritual connection with Orange. She would probably think him a weirdo for thinking about it like this, but he felt that since they had shared the same pain, they could, in turn, show each other the correct pleasure. To Jiro, the night before had been as much spiritual as physical. He felt an odd connection to Orange that wasn't just post one night stand recollection. It was an actually--speaking of religion--religious attachment to her. She wasn't just a physical want for him anymore. He felt connected to her.

Jiro shook his head. What was he trying to pull? Orange probably was looking at him as a friend with benefits. She could just have him when she wanted because she probably knew that she had him wrapped around her little finger. And it was probably true too. He might have actually done whatever he could for her. But did he really want to be used like he had been? Even by Orange?

"Religion is a funny thing, huh? Some days you think you're being completely protected, the next you're doubting everything you learned. Maybe I'm weird."

[Orange Diren]

Orange tongued her lip ring as she watched him and shared a moment of silence before his voice broke her out of her deep concentration of what had happened last night. She stuck her tongue in her mouth and let her hand drop she nodded and walked over to the table and took a seat.

"Hai," She said in reply as she looked at him. It was how she felt after the experience with that one man....she was glad she had forgotten his name. "Religion isn't truly my cup of tea anymore...but sometimes, every once in a while...I feel that there is someone out there listening to me, granting me small wishes." She looked at Jiro, she couldn't help but think that somehow Jiro was a wish she had been granted.

It had been many years since she felt so connected to one human being...suddenly she felt her mind go back to her younger days...to the person she loved most. She swore she had a connection with him, but she wasn't sure if he had felt the same. She brought her mind into the reality, Jiro was the closest thing to spiritual she had felt in a long time.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro could see a slight glazed look in her eye as he knew her mind must have been traveling back to thoughts of a different time, a different life, and probably even a different man sitting in front of her. Jiro looked down at his hands. He had never had anyone he had really connected to. Not comletely. There had been people he had loved deeply, but none that made him feel quite this raw.

He couldn't help but think of the last thing Ren had said to him before he had left Jiro angry and revengeful on his couch. "I am going to step out of your life, Jiro, for the same reason I stepped in. I love you." It had been the first time anyone had said they loved Jiro, his first experiance with love he was sure. And he had gone and drowned his sorrows in a hooker who had lived down the way from his brother's apartment. From then on, Jiro had found himself comparing anyone he was with to Ren Wilcox, as stange as that was.

And for the first time, he wasn't.

Orange owned a bit of him, and he wasn't comparing her to anyone else he had ever been with. He was appreciating her, loving her, for the way she made him feel, not because she met or surpassed any of his other lovers. Jiro took a deep breath and let it out, his mind hurting from all the thinking he had been doing the past day and a half. He looked over at Orange.

"Well, you look thoroughly entertained," he chuckled. "Have an interest in doing anything?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange heard him speak and she was drawn out of her thoughts. She was so glad to hear his voice and to rid her mind of what she was thinking for if Jiro knew...he'd laugh at her, she was almost positive. But inside she was dying to tell him how attached she was to him over a short period of time, how she'd love to love him. She knew that was how to scare guys away, tell them they love them and she wasn't actually sure if she did after all when sex was good, love was easy.

"I'm willing to do anything you want." She replied after a moment, winking at him after she spoke.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled a little, though it was forced. As much as he would have liked to take her up on that offer, as silent as it had been, his mind was still clouded with thoughts of Ren and his past. He stood up and looked down at her, smiling then leaning down and kissing her. He nodded to the door.

"I think I am going to go head for the cockpit. I think Brother wanted to talk to me. You can come up and see the neat posters Brother hunted down when we were last in here together. They were hard to track down. Figure you would be interested," he said, turning towards the door, still trying to shake the bad feeling he had in the pit of his stomach.

[Orange Diren]

Orange took the kiss on the cheek well, but when he mentioned Taro..she felt ill. "I think I'll check them out at a better time, Jiro. Taro and I aren't really getting along that well, nor is his woman friend and I." She had never been in the presecense of two people wanting to rip her face off more than those two, although they hadn't vocalized it yet it was easy to tell in the way they acted around her.

She stood up and smiled and walked behind him and touched his back as he headed out the door. "I'm going to shower off. If you need anything come tell me." She suddenly wanted to work, wanted to be back at the port for everything that happened was cuasing flashbacks she would rather have thought of someplace else.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro nodded at her as he made his way down the hall to the cockpit where his brother was leaned back in one of the chairs, his hands folded on his stomach, his feet up on the console, and a cloth laying across his face. His breathing was even, and Jiro was about to leave, thinking that his brother was asleep. But when the older man stirred, pulling the cloth off of his face and looking up at him over the chair, Jiro smiled and walked over, sitting next to his brother, leaning down on his knees.

"You have something against Orenji?" he asked quietly, and in Japanese, his eyebrows raising slightly. He was actually interested in whether or not his brother approved of the girl. His brother had always looked out for him, and if he had a problem with someone, Jiro was sure it might not end well. His brother sat up and shook his head.

"No, that's not it at all. See, me and Orange have encountered each other before and it was not quite a good meeting, or at least, the circumstances weren't. But it's over now," his brother explained. Jiro nodded.

"She seems to be under the impression you don't like her and niether does Jesimae," Jiro said, a little quieter in case Jesimae happened upon them. He was sure she would not take kindly to him whispering her name while everything else was in Japanese.

"Well, I can't account for Jesimae's feelings towards her. As she did stumble upon Orange and I having a somewhate questionable conversation about our last meeting. She is probably just wary of the kid. But as for me, I say, the more around here, the merrier. This ship needs more people walking through its halls," his brother, smiled, leaning back in his chair again and closing his eyes.

"Alright. I believe anything you say. I am going to go back up and do something interesting. See you later. Love you," Jiro said, getting up and going to the door.

"Love you too, Jiro," he heard his brother say as he left. Jiro made his way down the hall to the lifts. He boarded, punching the nember of the residence level, and feeling it come to life. It carried him upward and the door opened. Jiro turned out of it and went down the hall to his room, toeing off his shoes and leaving them by the door, going inside. He made his way over to his CD player and fished out a Pierrot CD from his rack, popping it in and turning it on.

Jiro smiled at the music, then went back over to his desk, opening his notebook to the next blank page and began to write in it again. He wasn't really writing anything specific, just about his talk with his brother, the situation between his brother and Orange and Jesimae. Anything and everything that came to his mind.

[Orange Diren]

Orange sat on the side of the tub with a towel on her head, scrubbing the day lights out of it, making sure any loose drops of water won't drench her shirt. It was an odd thing, she hated having wet clothes, the only kind of wet she liked was sweat and grease and as sad as she felt, she missed feeling the grainy engined grease in the creases of her fingers. She was too clean, it was beginning to bother her.

She stood up and let out a sigh as she glanced in the mirror that was slightly steamed. She glanced at herself and then to the thin and almost unnoticable scar on her eye. She quickly covered it up with a bit of makeup and made her appearance a little less...manly. For some reason Jiro envoked this ability to make her want to be more feminine, wear clothes that weren't coveralls and tank tops, and do something with her ratty hair. She quickly pulled them into ponytails and stepped out of the warm musky room and into the cold refreshing atmosphere of Jiro's bedroom, hearing Pierrot and seeing him doing something in his notebook.

"What are you writing?" She asked mindlessly as she sat down on his bed, putting her tiny makeup bag with its three contents on his side table, tying her coveralls around her waist as she glanced up at the ceiling. She frowned and looked over at his back and bit her lower lip, she shouldn't ask it, but she was going to.

"Jiro, how close are you and your brother?" So close it's incest? That question made her mad, why couldn't she just realize they were close and that was it?

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro glanced over his shoulder at her as he finished the tail on his 'ro' character. He turned slightly in his seat and put his pen down on his notebook, looking at her, studying her face. He smiled a little.

"Pretty close," he said, cocking his eyebrows a little. He got up and walked over to her, sitting down next to her, looking her up then down and smiling a little wider. "Why?"

[Orange Diren]

She tried to be nice, tried to...not make it seem like she were bossing him or noticing little habits that meant nothing, but she always wondered if Taro was a little "funny".

"Oh, just asking. Do you two...are you two affectionate?" She knew she was probably pushing her luck so she added a smile just to take out the odd feeling she felt deep inside. She wasn't too fond of guys petting one another and loving on each other like it were the end of the world, but that yaoi and daisuki...aishiteru...it was all so...odd and out of place.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro nodded, lying back on the bed and carefully unbuckling his belt, tightening it up and buckling it back. Then he sat up again, this time more satisfied with the tightness of his belt. He looked back over at Orange.

"Well..." he said, thinking about it a moment. He had never really considered what they did affection. It was just what they had always done. What he thought most people did. No one had ever asked about it before. He smiled a little. "I guess. I mean, it depends on your definition of affectionate."

[Orange Diren]

Orange looked at him and grinned, nodding trying to change the subject. She was just needing to see if there was anything unusual about the way they loved one another. Orange felt embarassed fr even bringing it up. It was just a little brotherly love, she was sure. Or...at least she hoped. At least they weren't kissing each other or anything.

"Don't worry about it. I was just wondering. Not many people I know love their siblings as much as you two do." She scratched her stomach and tried to act casual but she probably knew he could tell she was nervous. Affection not being something she liked to talk about, she was one to show it.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro tilted his head and wondered for a moment why she was asking about he and his brother's actions towards each other. For a moment, she seemed uncomfortable with it. But she seemed a little better now, he just hoped she wasn't upset about something.

"Well, me and my brother have been together for a long time, we are all each other knows," Jiro said, smiling a little. "I love him, and he loves me. I suppose people can take that any way they want." He winked, standing back up and walking over to his notebook, leaning oer it and picking up his pen, finishing ff his sentance with his brother's name.

[Orange Diren]

Orange watched Jiro as he winked and walked back over to his desk. He was right...somewhat. She thought brothers and sisters could be affectionate, but not as showy as these two were being. Something didn't sit right in her stomach, perhaps she was jealous of Taro and his ability to be so touchy? She scowled at that thought, she didn't know Jiro enough to be jealous of anyone, but she wasn't going to deny that she felt this odd connection with him that made her wonder...

It had only been a day! No way was she in love with this guy, sure it had happened before, but for some reason she wasn't this intense or adamant of wanting to be around Jiro. She didn't tell him how much she liked him or wanted to have his smell all over her, he'd probably think she was weird. Orange tongued her lip ring and remembered how she loved someone once and how intense she felt about them, she wasn't to the point of needing to be around Jiro all the time, btu she could see it very close in the future.

Again she scowled. She was thinking stupid things, Jiro probably thought last night was just a friends with benefits kinda thing...and she wasn't about to go over and ask him what he thought about her.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro finished adding the carrots to thier dinner as he took the last drink of his glass of Osaka Wine. He stirred the pot and took a deep breath, walking over to the doorway and pressing a button to the intercom. He leaned to it and spoke.

"Okay, everybody. Dinner is finished, so if you're hungry, come down to the kitchens," he said in to the speaker then walked back to the stove, pulling the pot off and setting it onthe table. He got bowls out and set them out, accompanying them with chop sticks. He went through his mental check list of his cooking strategy.

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae staggered into the bright kitchen, yawning largely as her eyes watered. She was surprised to be the first person in line for food, aside from Taro who was putting objects onto the table along with the food.

"Hey." She said as she finished her yawn and blinked her eyes free of the tears. "What's for dinner, slave?" She laughed as she took a seat, glancing up at him. It was funny, poor Taro seemed to be the only one who cooked on this ship and somehow she didn't feel bad at all.

"I feel as if this whole entire trip I've been doing nothing but eating, showering, and sleeping. How about you?"

[Taro Lawson]

Taro laughed out loud, fetching another wine glass and pouring some more Osaka Wine for him and some fo her. He set it on the table next to her bowl and then leaned on the counter, putting his chin in his hand. He looked up at Jesimae.

"Kanojyo, I have felt that way for a long time. I need to just do something with this life of mine," he said, smiling and putting a spoon into the pot. He nodded to it. "After you."

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae laughed and yawned again, shaking her head as she did so. She needed some form of entertainment, something to keep her busy after all Taro was probably getting tired of being her entertainment committee. She looked at him as she quickly dank down what he had poured for her. She sat the glass down and began to grab some food.

"Is there anything we can do tonight? I haven't seen anyone in a while, aside from your beautiful face!" She smiled at him and poked a chopstick into the food as she held up her empty glass with the other, letting Taro know she wanted more to drink.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro smiled, serving himself some food and beginning to eat as he poured her more wine. He chewed thoughtfully for a moment thinking of anything fun they had to do around there.

"Well, my brother and I play cards a lot when we're bored. We can teach you and Orange how to play some Japanese card games, or whatever," Taro shrugged, glancing up at the door as he saw his brother walk in. He smiled. "Jiro do you still have that old pack of cards we used to play with when we were little?" Jiro nodded at him. Taro smiled. "Good."

[Orange Diren]

Orange walked in behind Jiro and heard Taro ask him a question about a pack of cards. When she entered the kitchen she glanced over at the table to see Taro and Jesimae sitting down already eating. She tried to just let what had happened earlier pass, she was sure Taro and Jesimae would get over themselves, after all it happened a long time ago.

She smiled at them as she grabbed herself a bowl and dished some food into it, crossing herself as usual as she took a seat opposite of Jesimae.

"This looks really good." She stated trying not to feel so odd or try to relish on what had happened earlier. She took a bite and was quick to compliment it on its taste.

She had eaten Japanese cuisine before, but for some reason to have real Japanese people make it...it couldn't be matched.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled at Orange as he also sat down and ate, looking up at his brother and nodding. He loved his brother's curry and vegetable. It seemed doubly good now though because not only did his brother have Jesimae to eat with, he had Orange. They no longer had only themselves. Although, Jiro kind of missed sitting across from his brother and eating and laughing about stupid things.

Jiro took another bite, then looked up at his brother.

"Why did you ask about the cards?" he asked in Japanese. His brother smiled, glancing at Jesimae, then Orange.

"We're going to play after we eat. We can show them those games we learned from Asami," he answered. Jiro nodded then looked at Orange.

"Orenji, do you like cards?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange raised her eyebrows and lifted her head and glanced at Taro then at Jiro, unsure of where her name came from. "Hmm?" She asked mindlessly as she chewed and swaloowed quickly.

"Cards? Yeah, I love cards...I just don't know how to play but one game and that is solitare." She laughed a little embarassed, the three of them probably played every kind of game in the world and they would be forced to show her how to play and mess up the game. But she was a fast learner, or at least she always thought she was.

"I'm a fast learner though." She said in her defense. Luckily Jesimae was quick to tell her she only knew how to play pocker and gambling games, nothing really for fun, but for profit.

This made Orange feel better and she looked at Jiro and smiled. "If you know a game we could play in teams...Jesimae and I could kick your alls butts!" She winked at Jiro and then back to her food, getting herself another bite.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro thought a moment, taking another bite of his food. He reached across the counter, picking up his brother's glass of Osaka Wine and taking a drink. He handed it back as Taro also took a drink. Jiro smiled wide at him as they exchanged looks, then Jiro looked back at Orange.

"Well, there is a Japanese game called 'Engeki'. Its just like poker, except you play in pairs and you have to combine hands to win, so you can't win unless both players have a good hand. Just one won't do the trick."

[Orange Diren]

Orange nodded as she tried to ignore the sudden exchange of looks and the fact that Jiro just took a drink of Taro's wine. She moved her mind to the game and slightly remembered hearing about it, but not enough to tell anyone how to play it. She looked over at Jesimae, who was eating away, she lifted her head and asked her if she wouldn't mind being on her team, luckily she replied the way she wanted to.

Orange smiled and looked at Jiro and nudged him playfully with her elbow. "It's settled, you two are going down." She winked at him and prayed to God she was right.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro laughed as he took the last bite in his bowl, and he leaned over getting a little more from the pot and eating it. Despite the fact that earlier he had not been hungry at all, he was starving, and he felt in the sincere mood to gain two or three pounds. Though he knew that no matter what he did he always stayed this same weight. He and his brother were cursed like that.

"Yeah, well. Brother and I have this thing going," he said, winking at his brother. "And you two have no idea of our strategy. I think you girls are going down." He smiled at them, as he and his brother shook hands.

[Orange Diren]

Orange laughed as she watched them. For some reason she was getting excited and hyper to play this game, whatever it was! Their confidence reeked and she was so glad that she was very good at winning games, especially when she herself got defensive and very competitive.

"Yeah," She said with a smile and she and Jesimae exchanged glances. "You two keep telling yourselves that! I have some smooth moves when it comes to cards! And don't tell me that solitare isn't a game based on strategy!" She laughed setting her empty bowl aside.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro finished his food and put his bowl into his brother's picking everyone's bowl and chop sticks up and walking them to the sink. He walked back to the table and opened a hidden drawer on the bottom. He pulled out a small box that had his name scrawled on it in a child's hand. He could remember writing it on there when he and his brother had been in the orphange.

He opened the box and pulled out a bag that had a deck of Japanese playing cards in it. He pulled them out and brandished them

"My cards. Had them since I was two," Jiro said. His brother leaned over, taking them and looking through them.

"These things hold good luck for my little boy and I," Taor said, winking at Jiro and pocketing the cards.

[Orange Diren]

Orange tongued her lip ring as she watched the two, why wasn't Jesimae finding their behavior a bit odd? She watched Jesimae stand up and walk over to Orange and take a seat. Surprisingly it had seemed she was no longer mad at her. She leaned over and told Orange that no matter what they were gonna kick their butts siply because she hated their gloating.

Orange smiled and put her elbows on the table and looked up at Jiro. "Whenever you are ready to lose...we are ready to learn!" She winnked at Jiro and then looked at Taro.

[Jiro Lawson]

Taro quickly dealt out hands to everyone and began to explain the game, telling them it was exactly like poker. He explained that they had to both have good hands that outdid his and Jiro's to win. And once he finished they had begun.

"Watashi tachi no engeki wo toru onnanoko no te wo kangaeru ka?" he asked his brother as they began playing. Taro smiled over at him as he scanned Jiro's hand.

"Hai."

[Orange Diren]

Orange glanced at her cards, Jesimae peeked at her own hand and frowned, then glanced at Orange's. They two grinned and then Orange pointed at the two brother's.

"Hey!" She said as she watched the two. "No speaking in Japanese! Your strategies could consist of cheating!" Orange glanced at her cards and over at Jesimae's, since they were partners they at least had to figure out a way to win. Hopefully...they could show these two talkers up.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro laughed as he pointed at one of his brother's cards and looked up at him, winking. Taro smiled, rearranging his cards, making an agreeing noise. Jiro also rearranged his cards and considered them for a moment. He nodded, looking back up at Taro.

"Engeki?" he asked. His brother shrugged, shaking his head and grunting a little. Jiro sighed. "Watashi ha sorera ni ichi tsuke re domo dochira ka ga aru koto wo kangae nai. Saisho no kaado wo oki nasai," Jiro said, pulling out one of his less important cards and laying it down in front of him, face up, while his brother laid down one of his own, andthey replaced them with another card from the deck. Jiro looked at the girls and smiled.

"Ladies?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange and Jesimae whispered to another for a moment before they made their move. Jesimae laid a few cards down on the table in a row, following the rules that had laid out. If Orange wasn't mistaken that was ten points. She too then sat a card face down and picked one up. She smiled and laid down her own points and then looked at Jesimae, who smiled. If they were playing it right they had just gained thirty points...boys had zero!

She smiled at Jiro and raised an eyebrow "Ladies?" She said with a laugh.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro purred slightly, smacking his brother's thigh under the table as if it were his fault that the girls had just pulled ahead thirty points. Taking the initiative, Jiro rearranged his cards and laid two down next the one he had already laid down and his brother fallowed suit laying three down. A measley twenty-two points. Jiro sighed, kicking Taro again then looking at the girl's across the table from them.

"Okay."

[Orange Diren]

Jesimae and Orange laughed lightly as they could tell something was going on under the table. Jesimae leaned over and whispered in Orange's ear, telling her to lay down a card. She did as she said and Jesimae quickly picked it up and sat down another set of cards of the same suit. Orange laughed and looked at the boys.

"Two girls who have never played this before are up on you two...what is that, Jesimae? Fifty points?" She nodded and laughed in agreement. It was obvious that Jiro and Taro were getting a little...serious? She nudged Jesimae as they both glanced at the cards that were laid out as if they had miscounted. But their scowls let them know they were right where they needed to be, ahead.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro barked slightly at his brother who laughed out loud and put an arm around his waist leaning over and whispering in his ear. Though there was no need. He was speaking so quietly that Jiro could barely hear, and it was in Japanese. Jiro nodded at the words, as Taro leaned back, nodding. Jiro laid down a set of cards, and so did his brother, brining thier points to forty-two. Jiro bit his lip, then leaned over, turning his head away from the girl's and putting his cheek against his brother's speaking into his ear as quietly as humanly possible, only because this time he had to speak in english. When he pulled back he smiled at the girls a little and shrugged.

"Well, you know what they say. You win some, you lose some. Your go."

[Orange Diren]

Orange and Jesimae exchanged glances when they began to whisper. Although she knew it was harmless the closeness again reared its ugly head up in Orange's mind. She again let it slide over her like a waterfall...at least as best as it could.

"Jesimae..." Orange turned and whispered in her ear to lay down a certain card. She did as she asked and Orange picked it up, quickly laying down more cards. For some reason...Taro and Jiro were sucking!

Orange and Jesimae laughed and gave each other high fives under the table and glanced up at the boys. "Your turn to give us more points!" Orange said teasingly with a wink and a smile.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro hit his back against his chair, tossing his cards harmlessly on the table as his brother followed suit. He shook his head, biting his lip and sighing.

"Rounds over. We ran out of cards worth points and the only way to get more is to draw again, but to draw we have have to lay down cards. You guys won this round," Jiro said, looking at Taro who stuck his tongue out at Jiro. Jiro snorted, making a move as if he were going to bite Taro's tongue, but his brother pulled back so quickly he almost fell out of his chair. He was laughing hard at Jiro's reaction. Jiro gathered the cards as he also began to laugh.

"Baka," he said, shuffling the cards and holding his hands out to the girls. "Another round?"

[Orange Diren]

Jesimae was laughing then made a comment about how that was important to her. Orange chuckled lightly and nodded in agreement to go another round. She was again hit wrong with their action, to think of Jiro with Taro's tongue in his mouth...she shuddered.

"Sure, another round it is! Prepare to lose, again!" She laughed and Jesimae chuckled in agreement as well. She then looked at Jiro and Taro as they shuffled cards and smiled. "Are you sure you've played this game before?"

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro nodded as he began to deal again.

"Yeah. We used to play all the time with a guy that lived just down the way from Brother's apartment. His name was Cat. He was pretty good and we used to beat all the time. Of course, if you played with his sister, Asami, you were bound to die. I think it just must be a chick's game," Jiro said, looking at his brother who nodded.

[Orange Diren]

Orange raised her eyebrow and looked at Jesimae and mouthed 'A chick's game'. They laughed and looked over at them.

"Well then why aren't you two winning?" She joked as they laughed as he dealt them out.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro rolled his eyes, and looked at his brother. Neither were laughing anymore, as Jiro was trying to understand what his brother was saying to him. When he realized Taro wasn't speaking English, he picked up on it almost immediately and nodded. He picked up his hand and he and his brother looked at each other's. Jiro looked at the girls.

"Your go."

[Orange Diren]

Orange looked at Jesimae and realized they weren't in a palyful mood anymore. They both snickered finding their losing and pouting funny.

"Okay..." Orange said in a sigh as they sorted their cards and were quickly doing what they had been a moment before. Points were coming in quickly and it was obvious that Taro and Jiro weren't very happy. IT seemed everytime Orange and Jesimae were to play they ended up raking in the points.

The boys weren't happy at all, simply because their grunting, angry language, and constant slapping at one another let them know how serious they were beginning to take this game. Jesimae laid down a few cards and was surprised they didn't gain anything.

"Your turn, boys." Orange sighed, sad that they couldn't get an even 150 instead of 145.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro and Taro squeezed past the girls by a little after a few moments, but they easily went back ahead of he and his brother. And finally Taro threw in the towel. Jiro sighed looking over at his brother and putting an arm around Taro's waist as he gathered thier cards again, smiling at his brother's rather pouty face. He kissed him on the cheek.

"It's okay, Brother. We still have one more round to go," he said, looking at the girls. "Assuming you still want to play?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange and Jesimae looked at one another and nodded. This was becomign rather repetitive! Couldn't they just take a loss without finding ways to touch!? Orange was ready to quit so she could get away from their behavior. She guessed they had no respect for what she thought of it.

She glanced over at Jesimae after the kiss and it was apparent she was having no problems with it. Orange slightly frowned and glanced over at Jiro, were they all three having one big love affair? She knew she was thinking rather ignorant thoughts, but she again took it with a grain of salt and slapped the table with enthusiam.

"I'm ready to win another game!"

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro dealt out the last hand and hoped that he and his brother would get luckier. As he looked at his hand and then at his brother's, he saw that together, they had a good fifty points right up front. Taro laid down his cards and Jiro followed suit, rearranging his cards to better be able to see them. Happy with how it had started, he looked at the girls.

"Your engeki."

[Orange Diren]

Orange clenched her jaw when she watched them lay their points down. She glanced sidelong at Jesimae who was holding her cards up to her face and frowning as she rearranged them.

"Anything?" She whispered in her ear. Jesimae shook her head no in response and Orange suddenly felt their luck had run out. At least she had been able to get 5 points out of it. Jesimae, sadly, had nothing but discards.

"Don't get too comfortable, boys." Orange warned as she suddenly felt anger come over her. She wasn't going to lose this game!

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro looked through his hands and laid one card down, drawing another as Taro laid down three cards, bringing thier points to fifty-eight. Jiro smiled at Taro and hook thier elbows, muttering something to him as they rearranged thier cards to match the others and be able to see it correctly. Jiro looked up.

"Okay."

[Orange Diren]

"Shimatta." Orange said lowly as she looked at Jesimae's cards. They were running out, sadly. "Still?" She questioned Jesimae who let out a sigh of disgust at their cards. She shook her head no and they both laid down nothing.

"Go." Orange said angrily, suddenly realizing how bad it was to be on the losing end of the stick.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro saw Taro lay down one card and draw another and he laid down four cards, bringing thier score to sixty-five, and him cardless. He leaned over drawing three cards and arranging them in his hand as he glanced at how many his brother still had. If thye could both run out of cards at the same time, then they could win without giving the girls a chance to get ahead of them.

"Your go."

[Orange Diren]

Orange let out another curse when she realized that she and Jesimae were going to lose, simply because there wasn't any possible way to catch up, especially when there were only a few cards left in the pile.

Jesimae leaned over and told her not to forfeit. But Orange was considering it. They'd be letting them win if they forfeited, right?

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro and his brother laid down two cards each bringing them to one card each that was worth nothing. They laid them down in a middle pile and both broke out into wide grins.

"Engeki!" Jiro called loudly as his brother grabbed him and hugged him hard. Jiro smiled, as he also hugged his brother, and Taro pressed his forhead to Jiro's. He was laughing so hard, his face was red, and Jiro knew his must be too. They were laughing out words to each other.

Jiro put his hands on Taro's face and kissed him, laughing against his brother's mouth as they kissed. Jiro knew he probably shouldn't be this happy about winning a stupid card game, but he was and he knew that his brother was too, as neither of them could stop laughing as they kissed each other. The girl's probably thought they were acting like kids.

[Orange Diren]

Jesimae was laughing terribly hard as she sathe cards down. They were so adorable! It was just a card game! Orange looked at the two of them then over to Jesimae. What the hell!? Was she not seeing this!? WAS SHE BLIND!?!?!

Orange laughed lightly, their kissing being drawn out too long, too too long. It felt like an hour had passed, but they were not unlocking lips, they were still against one another, still kissing! Orange let out a sigh and stood up.

"Well, that was fun!" She said lively, trying to replace the sudden urge to throw up. "I am tired you all. Thanks for the dinner and the great game!" She patted Jesimae's back and told her she had fun and was going to see everyone in the morning. She knew this was going to look odd, but she needed to get out of there. There was only so much she could take.

"Night." She said lowly as she walked out of the kitchen quickly, holding her stomach and suddenly wanting to cry. She had this odd connection to Jiro and to see him doing that somehow crushed her. Close or not...that was too much! It pained her to think that Jiro, if he ever wanted to again, was going to be kssing her lips with the same pair that touched Taro's. She was almost certain tongue might've been involved.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro noticed Orange's fast departure and stood up, kissing his brother good night and waving to Jesimae. He apologized to them for leaving so quickly but that he had to make sure Orange was okay.

He ran out of the kitchen and looked down the hall at Orange's quickly retreating form. He ran down the hall towards her, hoping she was alright. He could have sworn that she had been holding her stomach when she had left.

"Orenji!" he called as he saw her walk into the lift. "Orenji! Hang on a sec!" He grabbed the door of the lift before it could close and went in with her, breathing deeply to catch his breath as he let the door shut behind him. He looked down at her as she stood there and she was avoiding his gaze.

"Orenji? Are you okay?"

[Orange Diren]

"Hai, hai, I'm fine." She ran her left hand over her forehead, she felt sick, she was burning up, she was wanting to go crawl in a hole. She smiled and let out a nervous laugh, but she couldn't pretend that this wasn't something serious! She wasn't used to seeing two men kiss, even when they were brother's!

"I'm fine." She said again as she leaned against the wall of the lift, finally looking up at him and swallowing. She wanted to just tell him why he did that! What was going on? Were they...incestuous? "I'm fine." She whispered again as she continued to clutch her stomach with her right hand. Jiro....why did you kiss Taro!?

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro stepped back a little, cocking his head and furrowing his brow. Had she just asked him why he had kissed his brother? Well, he thought...they had won! What else was he supposed to do. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"We...I mean...we won. We were just celebrating...Orenji, you look so pale!" Jiro said. He couldn't figure out how she had gotten so bad in just the past few seconds. She had been fine at the end of the card game and now she looked as if she might throw up then faint at any second. "Orenji...what's wrong?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange looked up at him, she was burning alive! Why was she taking this so personal? Why was she freaking out so bad? She knew Jiro must think she was ignorant, if not mental! She was trying to see the good in this, the innocence in their kiss...but she couldn't.

"I'm sorry, Jiro!" She said in an airy whisper. "I am not accustomed to two brothers kissing. It just...rubbed me the wrong way, okay?" She sighed out happy she got that off her chest, but she was scared of how Jiro might react. Hopefully he wouldn't be disgusted!

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro stepped back and looked down at her, his heart hurting all of a sudden. He had never thought about it before, no one had ever had a problem with the way he and his brother were about each other. No one had ever said that they were too touchy or anything like that. To hear it from someone who meant so much to him, tore his heart in two. He didn't know why, but it did. He looked at the ground and then back up at her.

"I'm sorry, Orenji. I didn't know it had such a profound effect on you. If I had known...I wouldn't have..." but Jiro couldn't get the words out. He had always loved his brother first, before anyone, and he was now about to curtail all his interactions with him. But Orange was worth that. Worth Taro. "I'm sorry. I'll stop. I didn't know..."

[Orange Diren]

Orange let out a sigh and suddenly she felt guilty for running out of the kitchen like that, for somehow ordering Jiro to never do it again, but she didn’t. Jiro was doing this on his own free will and she couldn’t tell him how much she appreciated it. She looked up at him and nodded, feeling slightly better, but not completely.

“I know you love your brother I just can’t handle such intimate touching. I’m used to the hugging and the ‘I love you’ goodbyes. Anything else seems too out of place, too...” She opted not to go with word that was flashing in her mind. Incest wasn’t a word that would go over well with Jiro, she was sure.

“Arigatou.” She said as she shook her head, letting her shirt go for the feeling of wanting to vomit passing. Suddenly she had a different pain inside, Jiro giving up something he probably had known for all his life...that was a big task. Although she wasn’t one to boss or order people what to do she was so relieved that he was doing this for her.

Ah, the key word. Her as odd as it was going to sound she needed to also get her other thoughts out into the open for they were causing as much pain as having witnessed two brother’s make out. She knew she was exaggerating, her mind had seen a tongue but the probability of it actually being there was highly unlikely.

“Jiro,” She started as she found the words. “This is going to seem very out of place, if not weird, but I wanted to tell you that since last night I’ve been feeling different, not in a bad way either.” She tongued her lip ring as she made sure to pick the correct words that wouldn’t freak him out or cause him running since that would be the completely opposite effect she wanted to have on him.

“I’ve been in love twice and when I was I had this feeling deep inside of me. From the moment I met you I’ve had that same feeling and it has seemed to become more prevelant since this morning. I’m not saying I am in love with you, okay?” She suddenly felt awkward for saying such a thing to him! She was blowing it so bad! Any mention of the word ‘love’ and men turned and ran away screaming.”I’m just saying...that I know you mean a lot to me for having known you in such a short amount of time.”

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro tilted his head slightly to see her face. The pain in his stomach that had been hurt and fear had now turned to happiness, and a swell of well being in his heart that he had not felt in a long time. Jiro put his hands on her shoulders and took a breath.

“Orenji,” he whispered, and pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and burying his face in the crook of her neck, taking a deep breath. “Watashi ha kore wo sonnani…kanji ta…” he muttered, getting his thoughts in place before speaking. He took a breath and leaned back putting his hand on her face, relishing the feel of her skin under his fingers. He looked at her and gently put his lips to her cheek, putting his forehead against hers. He spoke against her mouth, breathing in her scent, as he ran his fingers over her skin.

“Don’t get frightened when I say this,” he said quietly, looking at her. “But I have felt something deep inside of myself for you…something that I haven’t felt in a long time. Something that is much more than just infatuation post one night stand. I have a connection to you that I don’t have with anyone else. And I’m not saying this to run you away…that is the last thing I want.”
Jiro ran his thumb over her jaw, wanting to be close to her now more than any other time. He wanted the simple connection of human contact. He wanted to touch her, hold her hand, just have that physical contact in such a simple action as touching her face. He didn’t know why the need had become so strong right then, but it was.

[Orange Diren]

Orange felt her stomach drop and for a moment she thought she was going to be sick, but it quickl passed for it was due to fear of what he was going to say. SHe enjoyed the sudden closeness between them and she loved how he was touching her and telling her things she swore she'd never hear again in her life after Shin...but that was stupid to be reliving the past right now she had Jiro and the future.

She put her arms around him and hugged him tightly, this simple actio fulfilling her more than anything. She felt much better about her feelings, more secure that Jiro wasn't going to run off screaming like a chicken with its head cut off.

"I'm so glad." She said lowly as she looked up at him and put her hands on his face. "Jiro last night only broadened my feelings towards you. I know this will sound weord, but I think what I feel is more spiratual than sexual." She knew hew as going to think she was odd, but she knew in her heart that it was.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled wide, putting his hands on either side of her neck, running his thumbs over her jaws. He leaned down and kissed her lightly.

"You mirror me," he said quietly, putting his face into her neck again and kissing it gently. He had never wanted to be so close to someone in his entire life. Even as close as they were at this moment wasn't as close as he wanted to be. He held her closer to him, holding onto her as if should he let go, he might lose himself in the lift.

[Orange Diren]

Orange felt her legs nearly shaking as if this whole thing were nerve racking but it was only due to teh excitement she felt running through her. She had never felt so connected to one person in such a short amount of time, even on her one night stands she never felt so...connnected.

"I wanna be as close to you as possible." She whispered in case he might not like that ide, but that waswhat she was feeling. Jiro was close as he could be physically without clothes coming off, so close she could feel his heart beating against her chest, she wanted to be closer, as close as two humans could possibly get. But seh didn't want to tell him just yet, she still wasn't sure if he wanted to be completely hers even though she was ready and willing to literally be Jiro's.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro held her closer, trying to get her as close to him as humanly possible, though he was already as close as he could get. He ached to have the assurance that she would never leave him. He wanted her to tell him that she would always belong to him, and that he could belong to her. But he didn't want to scare her off, make her afraid.

"I don't want you to go away...I don't want to leave you," Jiro murmured. The words had left his mouth before he could stop them and he was sure that Orange would get scared and leave him standing there beating himself up about it.

[Orange Diren]

Orange frowned and looked up at him, his words surprised her for it was like he had read her mind. She was silent for a moment and she was holding her breath trying to search his eyes for reassurance that he truly meant it. SHe knew she was taking too long and before she could tell him she felt the same she simply grabbed his face gently in her hands and stood on her tip toes and kissed his mouth softly as if he were this delicate object and she could harm him.

She kept her mouth against his as if she were sucking the life out of him. She moved away after a long beat and let otu a sigh. "Watashi mo."

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro jolted awake. He was staring straight up at the ceiling and his body was sweating badly. He was dying of a heat stroke. He kicked the sheets off of him and gulped down several deep breaths. Jiro sat forward, then swung his legs over the side of the bed, looking at the clock on his wall. It was two thirty in the morning Coruscant time. Jiro looked over to make sure he hadn't waken Orange, then slipped on a pair of grey exercise pants and an undershirt.

Jiro walked to his door, opening it and going out. He padded down the hall to the lifts, making his way down. He walked out and down the hall, wanting a drink of water so badly, he thought he might die before he got there.

When he arrived, he saw his brother leaning on the doorframe of the door, his head leaned back and a glass of wine in his hand. Jiro smiled, poking him in the stomach as he went by. Taro raised his head and smiled as Jiro walked in and got a glass of water drinking some of it and walking over to where his brother had been standing. He leaned on the doorframe opposite his brother, leaning back and arranging his legs around his brother's.

For a few moments, they merely stared at each other, saying nothing, only reguarding each other with silent interest.

"Nodo ga kawai te iru akanbou ka?" Taro asked, and Jiro smiled, nodding and holding up his glass.

"Hai. Nani wo shi te iru ka?" he asked. His brother shrugged, taking a drink of his wine as Jiro watched him intently.

[Orange Diren]

Orange grunted as she shifted in the bed, not feeling Jiro beside of her. She opened her eyes slowly and glanced over her shoulder to find it was empty. She slowly moved out of the bed this incredible desire to get some water hitting her like there were no tomorrow.

Orange slid out of the bed and grabbed her tank top and pulled it on and slowly walked out of the room. Hopefully Jiro was the only one up since she didn't feel like having anyone see her in her tank top and underwear at such a late hour, plus she didn't think anyone else would appreciate it too much. She laughed to herself finding it hard to believe that she was actually concerned about what other people thought of her appearance, normally she'd walk around naked if she could not having a care in the world, luckily she had changed her opinion on that one.

She made her way up the lift and yawned as she walked down the hall towards the kitchen. She stopped halfway when she heard low mutterings. She lifted her eyes up too the doorframe and frowned when she saw Jiro and Taro talking lowly, their legs looking entwined and their closeness suddenly causing her body to over heat, epsecially when she continued to watch them interact.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro laughed as he put his glass on the floor and his brother followed suit. Jiro laughed slightly as he reached over and straightened his brother's shirt. Taro had never been the neatest about his clothing. Jiro pulled at Taro's shirt and then at his pants. Taro laughed at his obsessive compulsive attitude and stared down at Jiro's head. He cocked his head, and reached over running his hand through Jiro's hair and grabbing it at the back of his head.

"Saigo ha itsu anata ga shower wo totta atta ka?" he asked, and Jiro laughed, taking Taro's hand from his hair and pulling it out, lacing thier fingers together and holding it. He nodded back towards the lifts.

"Kinou tadashiku Orenji no mae ni," Jiro answered. Taro cocked an eyebrow at Jiro, leaning over to talk in Jiro's ear.

"Aa, ee. Aishiteru, eh," he muttered, biting Jiro's ear playfully. Jiro laughed, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder and pushing him back. Jiro shook his, still laughing.

"Hai," he said quietly. Taro laughed, shaking his head, then kissing Jiro on the cheek.

"Watashi ha neru tame ni tsukare te iru shi sentou ni tatsu okonatte iru," he said, pointing back towards the lifts. Jiro nodded.

"Okay. Oyasuminasai," he said. Taro smiled, picking up his glass and turning to leave.

"Oyasuminasai."

[Orange Diren]

Orange didn't need to know what they were saying to understand what was going. The longer she had stayed there the worse things got. Jiro touching Taro's pants...he grabbing his hair...lacing fingers together..kissing the tongue! She had heard her name but she wasn't willing to stick around to try and decipher what was said.

She turned on her heel quickly the image of Taro kissing Jiro...it wasgoing over and over and over in her mind! She was beginning to sweat as she had earlier, shedidn't understand why this made her so uncomfortable, but to tell the truth Jiro hadn't done as he promised...he had lied to her.

Orange made her way into hsi room as she felt her heart beating quickly, praying to god it wasn't what it seemed, but it all fit perfectly together.

Orange leaned on Jiro's desk and triedto calm down for she knew she was overreacting. Perhaps brothers did do that kind of things! Maybe they did kiss, hold hands, and...her eyes scanned the desk as if she were looking for answers. Suddenly she remember the notebook, the thing that had started it all! She bit her lower lip and tugged on her lip ring as she opened the drawer and saw nothing. She glanced at the desk at all the papers strewn about and she then saw it laying open with a pen stuck in between the pages.

She licked her fingers and flipped through it quickly, seeing nothing but Taro's name, words meaning love, sexy, hot all thrown on one page, but nothing caught her eye more than the one on the last page. She frowned and picked it up and brought it closer to her face. She frowned when she saw Jiro's name along with Taro's beside the word yaoi. She gasped and put the book down and closed it. She rubbed her eyes and tried to get the mental picture ofthe two of them together out of her mind, but she couldn't asll she saw was Taro and Jiro, naked, together.

She walked over to the bed and tried to calm herself some more, telling herself she didn't need to be so snoopy, but she was. She heard footsteps coming down the hall and she knew it was probably Jiro, all seh had to do was be calm about this and ask direct questions and the truth will come out.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro yawned widely as he made his way back to his room. He waved to his brother as Taro went past him and then he entered his room. When he did, he saw the light at his desk was on, and Orange was sitting on the bed, her face white as if she had seen a ghost. He looked from his desk to her and back again. He went to his desk, looking down at his papers and his notebook. Jiro closed the notebook, fitting it back into its drawer, then shut off the light at the idea of dusk that it threw over the room made him uncomfortable.

Jiro turned back to the bed and slowly crept over as if a loud noise might scare Orange to death. He walked over and sat next to her, touching her hand and looking at her.

"Orenji? Are you alright?"

[Orange Diren]

ORange tried not to recoil when he touched her but she was almost positive he knew she wasn't in the mood to be touched by him at that moment. She glanced over at him and clenched her jaw and tried ot her best to put her demand into words that wouldn't make him angry, but there wasn't any nice way to put what she wanted into words.

"I went to get some water..." She said lowly as if this were some personal story only he should know. "I saw you and Taro." She drew in a sharp breath and stood up, slightly pacing before stopping a few inches in front of him then glancing down at him.

"Jiro you told me you and Taro wouldn't...." She bit her lower lip. She was going to tell him what to do! She hated that, she always avoided that in relationships, but Jiro had to respect what she felt, right? She bent down in front of him and grabbed his hands and looked up at him.

"I don't think it is such a good idea for you and Taro to be so touchy feely anymore, okay? People are going to get the wrong impression...I might be getting the wrong impression." She knew there wasn't any possible way someone wouldn't think ill of the two brothers and the way they were, if Jesimae didn't see it then she was blind.

"I know you love your bother, I'm just asking you to please...back off of it a little for me?" She frowned and hoped to God Jiro was willing to do what she asked after all she nearly throws up everytime she witnesses it.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro stood, pulling his hands out of hers as he looked down at her. So what if she had seen he and his brother? What did that have to do with anything? The wrong impression? what kind of an impression could she--

And then it all hit Jiro. It felt like a slap in the face, or a punch in the stomach. His mouth dropped open slightly as he looked down at her. His mind was reeling. Surely she wasn't thinking what he thought she was! She didn't...she couldn't...could she?

Jiro got out from between her and the bed, for some reason realizing why his journal had been opened to a different page than the one he had been working on when he left the room. She had been interpreting it, or more accurately, misinterpreting it. He looked at Orange.

"You think me and my brother are incestuous, then?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange looked over her right shoulder as he walked to his desk then glanced at her. She tongued her lip ring, a sure sign to let him know she was nervous and thinking about how to respond. But she couldn't deny the truth, after all honesty was her best policy and so far she had been tip toing around the way she felt, not truly wanting to tell Jiro how uncomfortable their closeness made her. She looked away from the floor and up at Jiro and nodded a few times before standing and letting out a sigh as she ran her hands through her hair.

"Hai." She said completely. She looked at him and shook her head. "I'm sorry to think that, I truly am, but Jiro you don't understand how this makes me feel to see you two together...touching so intimately...touching in a way that only two people in love should be." She knew she was going to make him angry she just knew it, who wouldn't be mad if someone told them to stop loving their brother in a way that was normal?

"Jiro...I'm not asking you to stop loving your brother just...love him normally! Love him without touching him..hugging that is fine! Touching pants and having tongues involved I cannot deal with seeing that. It makes me sick."

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro shook his head, putting his hands in his hair and scratching his head vigorously, trying to grasp his situation. He waved his hands in front of his face and looked at her.

"Orange, we are in love. We're brothers, of course we love each other!" he exclaimed, much louder than he had intended. He put a hand over his mouth and looked down at the floor, gathering himself before speaking again. He took a breath and looked back up. "I...respect what you think, and I'll..." he took another deep breath, shaking his head, feeling as if his heart were being ripped from his chest. He had always loved his brother first, before anyone else. And now he was going to have to distance himself from the one person who had a been a constant in his life since the time he was born. He looked back up.

"I suppose I was stupid for not knowing someone would think it at some point or another, and for future referance, it might help if you understood what we were saying before you make assumptions about our actions," he said firmly, trying to make her understand. But he softened his voice and looked right into her eyes. "But I will do as you intstruct me. I'll do whatever you say." He looked back down at the floor, his heart aching, for it had just been ripped in two.

[Orange Diren]

Orange's expression softened she could see that what seh had just asked was probably going to kill him. She knew it was a bad idea to even mention it, but she couldn't tell him everything was fine anytime he saw her look pale and about t o faint, how long could that last? She walked over to him and put her hands on his hips and looked up at him.

"Jiro I don't want to demand you to do what I ask, I just want you to understand how uncomfortable it makes me. It is against what I believe, brothers and sisters are simply that...they don't touch each other so intimately." She lifted her hand and touched his cheek and looked into his eyes praying that he would see how much she cared for him and didn't want to be this person who controlled every move he made.

"Jiro I..." Orange stopped herself before the words came out, she was honestly about to tell him she loved him enough to understand, but knew that wasn't going to help the situation, if anything it'd probably complicate things. "...I don't want to lose you and I don't want to have to worry about you thinking I am pulling you away from Taro. Be yourself whenever you please, just don't do it around me, okay?"

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro's body felt limp and spent. He would be over this pain by the time he woke up. But right now it was just too much for him. Too much for him to handle, too much to grasp. He wanted so desperately to be angry, but he didn't have the strength to, didn't have to spirit to yell at Orange. He couldn't do it.

He turned back towards the bed, sitting down on the side and reaching underneath it, pulling out a jacket he had stored underneath it. He put it on and got under the blankets, lying down and taking a deep breath.

"I understand, Orange, and I will do what you want me to do. Just..." he felt his eyes water in frustration. He took a breath, wiping them away on his pillow. "Just let me sleep on it. I'll be as good as gold when we wake up...as good as gold. And you'll never see me touch my brother again, okay?" he asked, thought it was a rhetorical question and he didn't want her to answer. He closed his eyes and begged for sleep to come to him quickly.

[Orange Diren]

Orange watched him with sad eyes. She could tell what she had asked was something he wasn't willing to do, yet again he was telling her he'd do whatever she wanted him to and she hated that. She bit her lower lip in sadness she didn't want him to be hurt or sad or angry...she just wanted him to be respectful.

"Sure." She said lowly not really knowing how to respond. She knew he was so mad at her, she knew it! "Night Jiro." She said in a sigh wishing the night would be over and he would no longer feel bitter or angry at her request, which it was exactly that, a request.

[Jiro Lawson]

When Jiro woke up, he didn't feel any better about what Orange had said before he had gone back to sleep, but he no longer felt as if his heart would never mend again. He would live without being so...touchy, as Orange called it, with his brother. He was pretty sure neither of them would drop down and die.

Rising from the bed, he shed his jacket and shirt, not bothering to look over and see if Orange was even still in the bedroom, and walked over towards his desk. He gathered up the papers on it, and put them in the door with his journal, being sure to clear everything and put it in the drawer. He fished a snap lock from a small box on the top of his desk and put it on the drawer, putting in a code so that no one else could get into it besides him.

He walked into the bathroom, pulling off his pants and starting the shower, quickly stepping in, grateful for the hot water running over his body.

[Orange Diren]

Orange yawned as she stretched out in her bed. She had watched Jiro go to sleep and when she figured he was gone she went to her bedroom thinking Jiro wouldn't wanna see her face for a while, especially if he was still mad.

Perhaps she had misjudged her feeligns for him, but somehow she doubted it. To have him mad at her killed her and she literally could've cried all night long had she not been so tired. She moved around in her bed and thought of what she could do to busy herself, if Jiro wasn't wanting to see her she'd needed to find some way to stay away from his eyesight.

She grabbed her coveralls and pulled her hair into her favorite pigtails and walked around her room, planning on checking the engine room and what not making sure there weren't any kinks in their fan belt she had put on, sometimes they had been known to fly off.

Orange walked out into the hall as she tied her sleeves at the hip and walked by Jiro's room. She felt her heart literally break into pieces when she thought of him not really wanting to continue a relationship all because of a single request. She knew she probably hurt him by asking, but she couldn't deal with two brothers acting so intimate, it wasn't normal to her and she couldn't accept it.

[Jiro Lawson]

When Jiro got out of the shower, he fully expected to see Orange curled up on the bed, still asleep. When he didn't he saw that that side of the bed had not been slept on at all. Only his side was messy. He sighed. She must have left him once he had gone to sleep, probably not wanting to see his face when she woke up.

Though, now that he was clean, and felt as if all the bad things hat had happened had been washed off, he was feeling a little better about the situation he was in, and knew that he would never want to lose Orange over just how touchy he was with his older brother.

Jiro made his way to his drawers and fished out a pair of black cargo pants, and a black wife beater. He went to his closet and got out the biggest, clunkiest pair of army boots he owned and he went out into the hallway, dropping down onto the floor and pulling one on. Unfortunatly, the laces had come undone. Sighing heavily, he began to relace them as he sat in the hall.

[Orange Diren]

Orange yawned as she pulled her hair a little tighter in the clear plastic tie. She heard a loud clunk and glanced up from the floor to see Jiro pulling on a shoe the quickly beginning to relace another one. She stopped walking and felt her stomach hit rock bottom, she was afraid he didn't want to talk to her or see her, she felt so awful for what she had done last night she wasn't even sure if she wanted him to stay away from Taro anymore. She didn't know where she got the ability to but she did.

"Hi." She said lowly, a bit afraid he'd give her an evil look and ignore her, something she hated more than anything in the world. If Jiro gave her the silent treatment she'd pull her pigtails out and then go kick the wall, then probably kick him too. She let her hand drop from the side of her head and she put her arms behind her back as she walked over to him slowly, almost cautiously. Jiro, she thought in her mind please don't be mad at me.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro looked up at her as he finished lacing his boot. He grinned at her and jumped up, grabbing the top of his pants to keep them from falling off. They were much too big for him, he wasn't even sure why he kept them. But they were comfortable.

"Morning...or as close to it as you can get in space," he said, shrugging, then leaning down and kissing her on the cheek. When he pulled back, he motioned to his drooping pants, and the fact that his black boxers were much too visible. "Do you happen to have a belt I can borrow? Mine is too worn out and Brother's are too big." He smiled, shrugging, hoping that she couldn't tell that the last part had been a lie.

[Orange Diren]

Orange felt nervous, she let her hands go behind her back and put one over her stomach as if she were going to hurl, but the butterflies in her stomach were too busy this morning to make her think of anything except Jiro and last night.

"Gomennasai." She said looking at his pants then up to his face. "I don't wear belts, let alone own one." She hoped he was better this morning, he wasn't angry with her, didn't hate her. Luckily the kiss on the cheek made her feel a lot better than she was feeling when she woke up.

"If they fall, I'll catch them." She said with a playful wink.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro smiled and scratched his head making a confused sound and muttering to himself in Japanese, trying to sort out where he could find a belt without asking his brother about one. He looked down at his shoes that he had just successfully donned. He sighed and pulled them off, walking back into his room and throwing open one of his drawers searching through it.

Jiro located a black strip of cloth though he wasn't sure of its original purpose. Shrugging, he strung it through his belt loops and tied it on his left hip, tucking the ends in his pocket. With his pants secured, he went back out and pushed his feet back into his boots, ignoring the ties this time. He smiled.

"Better. I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Want some food?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange tongued her lip ring and watched him go into his room and search for something in his dresser. When he came back out she stifled the laugh and looked up at him and nodded.

"Yeah, a little hungry." She said as she touched her hair making sure there weren't any lumps in it. "Sleep well?" She asked in a sigh as they walked towards the lift.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro shurgged as they boarded the lift, and Jiro punched in for the first level. For a moment he was quiet. When the doors opened to the first level and they started towards the kitchen. He looked over at Orange.

"I would have slept better if you'd stayed," he said, quietly, almost hoping she wouldn't hear it. When they entered the kitchen, Jiro saw his brother had already beat them to the kitchen. Jiro bit his lip as they walked into his sight. Taro looked over and smiled.

"Morning, Orange. Morning, little boy," he said, smiling at them. As Jiro went past him he noticed that Taro made a move to give him the normal morning greeting of a kiss and/or hug. But Jiro ducked him, sliding over to the stove. And when he looked over at his brother, the expression on Taro's face was enough to make Jiro want to go stab himself. But he looked back at Orange, hoping that looking at her would remind him of why he was doing this.

It didn't.

"What do you want to eat, Orenji? I can't make much. Eggs and rice is my favorite, but we also like fried rice in the morning too. It's your call."

[Orange Diren]

Orange stopped a few feet away from them and smiled. "It doesn't matter, when I'm hungry I'm not picky." She took a seat after a moment, trying to not feel so odd for what she asked of Jiro, but so far he was doing as she asked.

"How did you sleep, Taro?" She questioned making conversation as she tried to remind herself that she wasn't a bad person for asking Jiro to back off the brotherly love, but it wasn't helping.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro ignored what Orange had said and turned to the stove, turning it on and pulling out a pot to start his rice. He began to boil it, not listening to the conversation going on behind him. His ear were ringing wit frustration, and sadness. All he wanted to do, was focus on boiling and frying the rice.

He added the egg, and then the vegetables to the skillet he had started beside the boiling rice. He pushed the vegetables around in the skillet with his chop sticks, and then added the rice, moving them all around together to begin frying it. He didn't care what Orange said to Taro or what Taro said to Orange. He just wanted to tune them both out right at this moment. He looked over his shoulder at them and forced a smile.

"Do you mind garlic in it, Orenji?" he asked, being careful not to look at or say anything to his brother. He was getting paranoid now.

[Orange Diren]

Orange looked away from Taro who, surprisingly, was carrying on a conversation with her. She smiled and looked at Jiro, but the way he was smiling at her caused her to wonder if it was real or not.

"That is fine, Jiro." She said with a nod noticing his odd behavior, suddenly she was really regretting having told him what to do. She wanted to slap herself for even agreeing that she had told him what to do. Jiro was a big boy, he didn't have to do what she asked! By the looks of things it was apparent Jiro wasn't accepting the fact that he agreed to not touch Taro.

Orange glanced back at Taro to find him staring at Jiro, long and hard, confusion well written in his glance. Orange knew that sooner or later Taro was going to ask about his behavior.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro pulled the skillet off of the stove, flipping off the stove, and turning, setting the skillet on the counter in front of Taro and Orange. He turned and fetched three plates and three glasses from a shelf, and then three pairs of chop sticks. He set them out and got milk, orange juice, and wine from thier cooler. He poured himself some orange juice, then looked at Orange.

"Milk, wine, or orange juice?" he asked, pushing the wine towards his brother, knowing that he would want it.

[Orange Diren]

Orange watched the two in silence until Jiro spoke at her. SHe looked away from the table and then up at Jiro who was doing an adequate job of keeping busy.

"Orange juice." She said lowly as she watched Jesimae linger into the kitchen last, as always. They exchanged smiles and Jesiame walked over and gave Taro a kiss before sitting down and chatting for a moment.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro finally settled across the table after getting Jesimae a plate and chop sticks. He sta and began eating in silence, having nothing to say to any of the people at the table. He merely stared down at his plate, thinking hard. He furrowed his brow as he thought about the night before.

Maybe he was overreacting. It wasn't a stupid request, asking him to lay off his brother. At least, he guessed it wasn't. No one had ever assumed anything of he and his brother before, and he was testing all new waters with this one. So he had no idea if it was a reasonable request. But he was going to try to obey Orange as best as he could. He didn't want to upset or lose her, and if she was uncomfortable with the way he and his brother loved each other, than he was going to do everything she said reguarding it.

Even if it killed him.

[Orange Diren]

Orange crossed herself and ate quickly, the air in the room was charged and absolutely suffocating, she'd glance up to see Taro staring at Jiro with a hard glance. He'd stop eating just to stare. Jesimae was obviously taking note for she was glancing in between the two then over at Orange. Jesiame shrugged as if asking her what was going on, but she simply shrugged in response despite knowing what was going on.

Orange tried her best to not suddenly feel uncomfortable, but she was. Her request was killing Jiro and probably making Taro angry. She knew that the second they had a moment alone, Jiro would probably spill it all out in front of him.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro finished eating quicker than anyone, and though he was still a bottomless pit and could have eaten much, much more, he wanted to go to the cockpit and be surrounded with mechanical objects. They didn't judge him, or ask him to do things, or laugh at him. That's what he needed right then.

Getting up and leaving his almost untouched glass of orange juice sitting there, he put his plate into the sink and turned walkign around the table towards the door. However, as he did so, he felt a hard hand grasp his wrist. He looked over to see Taro staring straight through him. His grip was very tight.

"Nani ga Jiro keizoku shi te iru ka?" he demanded in a low voice, his vice grip tightening around Jiro's wrist. Jiro shook his head.

"Ittai!" he said, pulling on his arm. Taro growled a little.

"Jiro!" he demanded again. Jiro pulled hard against Taro.

"Ittai! Watashi wo kizutsuke te iru! Kyoudai!" he cried, and Taro released him. Jiro scowled, turning and running from the room towards the cockpit as fast as he could. He didn't owe his brother any explanation. Taro would just have to live with the decision he had made without anything but just the knowledge that he had done so.

[Orange Diren]

Orange stopped eating the second she watched him get up, when Taro grabbed him she jumped, the slap as he grabbed him echoing throughout the room. She couldn't understand exaclty what was being said, but she could obviously see that Taro wasn't enjoying the way Jiro was acting.

Orange watched him pull free and walk out of the room. She was two seconds from getting up and going to tell him not to worry about what she thought or felt simply because it was obvious he was being tortured by a small request.

"What is wrong with you two?" Jesimae asked Taro as she touched his arm. He didn't respond right away he simply clenched his jaw and looked at the door and drank down his wine. Jesimae let him go and shook her head turning back to her food.

Orange stood up and put her plate in the sink and looked at the two. "I'm going to go check your ship, see if there isn't anything i can do." It was the only thing she wanted simply because Jiro was giving her a vibe that told her to stay away.

As she walked out of the room she heard Jesimae talking to Taro, asking him why he had to grab Jiro so hard and as to why they were both acting so funny. Taro's response was low and obviously as confused as Jesimae's. Orange felt bad, she knew this was all because of her and Jiro. But it wasn't any of their business...right?

[Taro Lawson]

Taro watched his brother leave and turned looking back at the table. He didn't hear what Orange had said right before she left, and he really didn't care. His mind was racing. What was wrong with Jiro? He was acting so strange but would not tell him why. Taro shook his head pushing his plate away from him, suddenly out of the mood for eating. He got up and put his hands behind his head walking around the counter and leaning on it.

He looked up at Jesimae, all the possibilities for his brother's odd behavior chasing through his mind, swirling into one thought, one idea, one obsession. This was going to kill him if he couldn't figure out what was wrong with the kid. Jiro had not looked at him once when he had come into the kitchen, had not even acknowledged that there was even another person in the room besides he and Orange.

Orange.

Could his behavior have something to do with the cute, charming mechanic that had graced them with her presence? It couldn't be. Why would Jiro be acting as if he didn't have a brother for Orange? Taro shook his head again and looked back up at Jesimae.

"I don't get it, Kanojyo."

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae sat back in her chair and looked over at Taro rack his brain. It was really odd to have seen Jiro so distant the nwhen Taro grabbed him, the response he got even made her wonder if he was PMSing. She watched Taro mindlessly stare at her as he thought, she'd give him twenty credits to hear what he was thinking, but opted to wait until he was ready to share.

"I don't get it, kanojyo." The tone in his voice told Jesimae he was confused. She sighed out as she stood up, grabbing her empty plate, along with Taro's. She walked over towards him and to the sink where she proceeded to wash them off. She sat them in the sink and walked over behind Taro and ran her right hand down his back as he continued to lean on the counter.

"Do you remember how Orange raced out of the kitchen the night before then again last night?" Jesimae let her hand fall as she walked to the other side of the counter and looked at him. "I think it had something to do with...with the way you two are." She slit her eyes as she told him what was coming off the top of her head, hopefully she was wrong but it was worth mentioning.

"The only person who knows what is going on, cutie, is Jiro himself. I suggest you go find out for yourself." She saw how he was already obsessing over why Jiro had acted as if he didn't exist and she hoped he'd take her advice and go see for himself. She gave him a gentle empathetic smile and ran her left hand down his face and leaned over the counter and kissed his lips.

"I'm sure it is nothing." She gave him another kiss and leaned away and sighed. "I'm going to go see what Miss Diren is up to." She let her hand fall as she winked at him and walked out of the room leaving Taro in his thoughts.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro watched Jesimae leave the kitchen and smiled. God, how he loved that woman. Taro shook his head and stood going to the doorway and leaning on it for a moment before looking down the hallway into the cockpit. Maybe Jiro was in there. Maybe he could go see him...

Taro made his way down the hall as silently as possible, which wasn't too difficult in his stocking feet. He walked slowly to the door and looked in. His brother was sitting in one of the chairs, his feet drawn up into the chair with him and a Japanese book leaned against his knees. Though Taro got the idea that he wasn't really reading it.

"Jiro?" he muttered as he crept into the room. His brother stirred slightly but said nothing. Taro continued his advancing towards his brother's chair. "Jiro, I think...I want to talk to you."

"There isn't anything to say," Jiro answered him, though Taro could tell Jiro was straining not to tell him what was going on. Taro moved around the chair and crouched next to his brother taking the younger boy's hand. But Jiro pulled it away. "Don't, Brother."

"Jiro. Tell me what's going on."

[Orange Diren]

Orange held the flashlight in her left hand as she searched the dark engine room. She was barely even concentrating on checking things for her mind was too busy with thoughts of Jiro. She hoped that this wasn't too much to ask, after all people in relationships had to sacrafice.

"Orange?" She heard her name and frowned, peering out behind an engine and flashing the light in the direction of the voice to see Jesimae standing and quickly holding up her hand. "Hey, there you are." She said as she walked forward keeping the hand at the level of her eyes.

"Just checking the engines." Jesimae nodded and looked down at her from the catwalk. "Everything seems fine." Orange knewwhat she wanted and she wasn't going to get much information after all Jesimae didn't seem the kind of person for small talk.

"Tell me something..." Jesaime started, but Orange quickly stopped her before asking any questions.

"It is mine and Jiro's business." She said in a sigh as she walked behind the engine and letting her know that was all she was going to say about that matter.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro ran a hand down his face before continuing to speak with his brother who had yet to look over at him. Taro stood from his crouch and watched the top of Jiro's head. He fell back into the chair next to Jiro and merely reguarded him silently for a moment, his mind winding down from the race it had been on to figure out the issue here. He took a deep breath and let it out. He reached over and took the book out of Jiro's hands. He had expected the boy to hold on to it for dear life, or get angry when he took it. But instead, the book slid slowly and easily, and dropped with a light 'smack' on the floor.

For a moment, Jiro stared at his hands that were still held up as if they were holding a book. Then they slowly dropped, and he clasped them in his lasp, looking up and out at the stars slowly making thier way past the ship, making it appear as if the ship were not going so fast, when in reality, it was going very fast. Taro leaned forward.

"Jiro. What's going on? There is something wrong with, and I want to know what it is. If something's going on, I want to know. Maybe I can help you," he said quietly. Jiro said nothing. "Come on, baby boy, tell me whats going on."

"It's nothing," Jiro barely mumbled. Taro rubbed his eyes.

"It's something! What do you call not looking me into the face?! what about not wanting to touch me or even talk to me! I'm your brother, Jiro, and I care about you and what is wrong! Tell me!" Taro exclaimed. Jiro did not move, did not speak, and looked as if he were barely breathing. "Why won't you touch me? Is it Orange?"

And for the first time in thier entire encounter, Jiro looked up at him. His eyes read nothing, his face was expressionless. But Taro knew he had hit something. He just wasn't sure what. Jiro shook his head at him.

"I just...can't..." he muttered, and then got up and left Taro sitting alone in the room. Taro hit the console, swearing loudly, and staring out at th stars as if it were thier fault that all of this was happening to them.

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae had wondered what exactly Orange had meant by her little remark, but she was almost positive it had something to do with the way Jiro had been acting. She looked up to see Jiro rushing past her. She pushed her back against the wall and watched him turn a corner and out of sight. When Taro's loud curse echoed throughout the hall she knew something hadn't gone well.

She frowned and glanced back at the corner where Jiro had disappeared. She turned and walked down the hall towards the cockpit where she saw Taro leaning on the panel, clenching his jaw.

"I suppose things didn't go as well as intended?" She grinned trying to make the situation a bit light hearted but she knew Taro wasn't in the mood. She nodded to herself and walked over to him and sat down in a chair, crossing her leg as she glanced at Taro.

"Orange said something to me that I thought was interesting." She glanced at her nails as if her information weren't very important, but it was only to gain Taro's interest, luckily he looked over his shoulder at her. She drew in a breath and let it out slowly.

"I was going to ask her if she knew why Jiro was acting so..funny. She looked at me and told me it was her and Jiro's business. Taro, I might be wrong, but I am seriously thinking that Orange might've said something."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro nodded standing and turning fully towards her, sitting down in the chair next to her and turning back and forth in it as he bit his lip slightly.

"Yeah, you aren't the only one," he muttered, looking up and ver at her. He shook his head. "I like her, Kanojyo, I really do. And I don't want to cause tension in the ranks, but I, and you, and Jiro are her employers. And, technically, me allowing Jiro and Orange to be together is unethical. But I haven't seen Jiro as happy with anyone as he has been with her. I don't want to have say something to her that would cause thier relationship to be ruined," he said, not really sure why he was telling her all of this. It didn't really have any bearing on his decision. He had to talk to Orange. Just needed to ask her what was going on. Because she seemed to be the only one who could change this.

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae frowned as she listened to what Taro had to say. He was right, as far as the whole Orange and Jiro thing being unethical, but he also was wanting Jiro to be happy and to see the lovethey had being ripped from him tore her up for it was tearing Taro up.

She nodded and stood up and walked over to him and walked behind the chair and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him as she put her head on her left arm as she spoke to him. "The best thing you could do, Taro, is be honest. Tell her what you just told me, okay?" She kissed him on the cheek and leaned up and ran her hands through his hair, for God knew how much she loved to do that.

"I'll be in your room playing cards by myself if you need anything." She kissed the top of his head and turned and headed towards the lifts. She stopped herself when she saw Orange alone in the kitchen. "Hey." Jesimae said, seeing what she was doing. Orange turned around from the sink and looked at her.

"I'm making myself a small salad to curb my need to eat. You all don't mind do you?" Jesimae glanced at the huge knife she held in her right hand where a few carrots were waiting to be chopped. She smiled and shook her head no.

"Nope. I'm going to my room. If you need anything hollar." Orange nodded and turned back to the head of lettuce in the sink. Jesimae looked over at the cockpit and quickly walked towards it, stopping halfway. "Taro? Orange is in the kitchen...alone...if you wanna talk to her." Jesimae thought she'd give him a heads up just in case. She turned and walked back to the lifts. Hopefully he would have a little chat and straighten things out.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro nodded at her as she left and smiled at her back. It seemed every time she made a move he loved her more. He stood up and took a deep breath, steeling himself. He turned towards the door and began out walking slowly down the hall, getting his words in order before he spoke to Orange.

Taro reached the door to the kitchen and his stomach turned slightly when he saw Orange's back. He bit his lip and walked in, sitting down at the counter behind her. He figured that she couldn't hear him for the water running in the sink. He took a deep breath.

"Hey, Orange? Can we talk?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange jumped slightly, almost cutting herself from the knife. She looked over her shoulder and saw Taro and smiled. She turned the water off and shook her hands dry and turned around, setting the knife to her right. She leaned on the counter and nodded.

"Mmm." She said as she rubbed her wet hands on her pants since shaking them was doing her no justice. "What can I do for you, Taro?"

[Taro Lawson]

Taro looked at his hands that were folded on the counter. He bit his lip and looked up at her smiling a little. He wasn't sure if his words were going to anger her, for his intention was not to fight with anyone, or make anyone angry. He merely wanted to know what had happened and why. He was just going to have a talk with her, hopefully getting to the bottom of all of this. He smiled and kept his voice kind and civil, hoping she would not take all this the wrong way.

"Orange...have you said something to Jiro about the way he and I treat each other?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange raised her eyebrows a bit sidetracked by his frank question. Was everyone all of a sudden the expert on hwo to run other peoples lives? She knew she was probably overreacting, but she had to let Taro know how she felt about the relationship she had with Jiro.

She respected Taro and his relationship with Jiro, but Jiro was respecting the way she felt, too. She leaned off the counter and glanced at the carrots in front of her, picking one up and observing it as she spoke.

She looked away from the carrot and up to Taro. "I don’t see how that is any of your business."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro sat back his eyebrows lifting up at her obvious touchiness of this subject. If she wanted to pull out the sword and shield, then he couldn't stop her. But when he was just trying to get to the problem and try to solve it by talking to her, that was when he got angry. She was lucky he hadn't just chucked her out the ship, or reported her for rank violation. He tilted his head.

"Well...I don't know about you, but in my realtionships no one controls anybody."

[Orange Diren]

Orange suddenly knew that this conversation was no longer nice. She was ready to argue, simply because she wasn't one to dish information out so freely. She tossed the carrot on the counter and leaned over towards him and slit her eyes.

"Control?" She laughed a bit annoyed at his choice of words. "Well, Taro, sounds to me like you are the one controlling him."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro smiled and leaned over the counter towards her. The conversation that he had tried to start out as civil had taken a rather frightening turn downwards to just plain dirty. Taro had lived dirty for a few years longer than Orange, and he knew how to hold himself. He clenched his jaw and smiled.

"My brother, my rules."

[Orange Diren]

Orange smirked evilly and shook her head this conversation was getting ugly, very ugly! She turned around and grabbed a small knife to shave the carrots with, she was surprised to see him still staring at her. She sat it down and leaned very close to Taro, so close they were inches away.

"Yeah and I bet that works in the bedroom, too?"

[Taro Lawson]

Taro was over her quicker than he had been on anyone before. He had grabbed up the large cutting knife she had set down earlier, as he flew over the counter, crouching on it. He pushed the knife to her throat, his face so close to hers, he could see his reflection in her eyes, and feel her breath on his tongue, as his own breath quickened, his heart beating hard with fury. He narrowed his eyes as he licked his lips, running the knife across her throat and placing it under her jaw, brushing a bit of her hair from her face before pressing the blade next to her face again.

"Do you want to say that again?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange was shocked that such a tiny man could hop on the counter and push a knife to her throat so quickly, she let out a low laugh as she looked at the fire in Taro's eyes. She had never gotten so much enjoyment out of being held under knife point before.

"Dare me to?" She slapped his hand away feeling the knife slightly scrape her skin on her neck, it was going to leave a little mark but it was a bloodless scratch. She turned and grabbed a large knife that matched the one he was holding and she flipped it in the air and caught it smoothly in her right hand, holding the knife at the handle and pointing it at Taro.

"A little boy shouldn't be playing with big toys!" She raised her eyebrow ready and willing to fight this man. It had been a while since she had a good knife fight. "He is just like you in the bedroom, so I know you've taught him well!"

[Taro Lawson]

Taro grinned daggers in her direction as he slid off of the counter like a snake getting ready to pounce its prey. He started towards her, listening to her jeering and licking his lips again as he reached her outstretched hand and touched her knife with his own, tapping it and running thier blades together, making a metallic sound that echoed slightly in the otherwise slient kitchen. His mind was on fire and so was his body. All his muscles were tensed to strike. He laughed at her words, much louder than he had actually expected himself to. He turned his eyes back to her, continuing to stare venom at her.

"Maybe if you didn't sleep with anything that was male and breathed you wouldn't have anything to compare him to," Taro muttered. Then he chuckled. "Oh, wait. They don't even have to be living, do they?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange laughed as she ran her blade against his own, the sound tickling her senses. His comeback was good, very fresh and it hit her in a spot where she enjoyed it.

"Pulse is optional!" She said with a smirk as she made the first move. She hit his arm and tried to catch his shirt, but he had good reflexes and quickly jumped out of the way. She rolled the knife on her fingers as she switched hands and pushed her thumb against the butt of the handle as she pointed the sharp edge at him as if she were preparing to stab him.

"Give it your best shot!"

[Taro Lawson]

Taro grinned maniacally as he flipped the knife in his hand and went for her arm clashing her knife with his own and pushing the handle of the knife forward with his opposite hand, ramming it forward and catching her wrist, causing a scratch, but not one to draw blood. He backed off then, holding the knife in front of him as he continued to smile at her, not taking his eyes from hers for a moment. He did not want to lose that look in her eyes. That look that told him how angry she was. He loved that, had not seen it in a long time. He liked feeding off of others anger. It made him feel alive, made him feel refreshed. He wanted her to be angry, angry at him. Taro savored this.

"Speaking of which, Orange Diren, what made me so special that night at the bar? There were plenty of other Asians and non-Asians alike in that hell hole. Why did you want to pay me the extra thirty credits over normal price?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange laughed as she moved her knife and jabbed at his chest, when she felt it tug and then heard a little rip she was happy to see a piece of his shirt had been ripped open, revealing his creamy skin. She moved back as they began to move slowly, she turned when they made their way around the counter as if this were some sort of merry go round.

"I chose you because you were the only thing that didn't look diseased. Plus I felt sorry for you." She watched his arm and when he tried to scratch her again she moved and slammed her knife into his own, causing a small spark even though she had no idea that household utensils could do that.

"Don't act like you didn't want it, Taro! You were as eager as I was to get into bed."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro threw his head back and laughed before plunging forward and hooked his knife into the top of her undershirt and pulled downwards ripping her shirt in response to her ripping his. He savored the tearing sound it made and smiled at the large tear in her shirt. He could barely see her bra through it and he looked back up at her.

"Been awhile since I've seen that, huh?" he asked, as he moved around her keeping just out of her reach. He wanted to draw out that shine in her eyes. He flipped the knife again and licked his lips. "I needed the money, Orange. If I wanted it so bad, I could have had anyone behind stage, most of which would have been preferred. But I decided to serve the slut in the front row."

[Orange Diren]

Orange laughed lowly as she glanced down at her shirt. She looked back up at him and ran her tongue along her bottom lip, tugging on her lip ring. She jumped onto the counter and grabbed his shirt and pulled it close and put her knife against his neck, but he was quick to push it against her side. She was close she could feel his warm breath on her face and she couldn't stop smiling.

"Well you sure as hell didn't seem to be that empathetic of me that night. If memory serves me correctly you told me I was the best you ever had. Too bad I can't say the same for you, Jiro might be young but he knows how to please a girl."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro laughed as he felt her breath against his mouth. He could remember that night as if it had happened just the night before. All the sensations flwed back through him and he couldn't help but laugh at her. It was a funny thing, prostitution. There were things you did for a few extra credits that you wouldn't be caught dead doing any other way. Doing Orange Diren had been one of them.

"Yeah," Taro muttered. "Too bad that's a required line." He pressed his mouth to hers, kissing her forcefully before ripping his knife across her side at such an angle that would not have hurt her, but would have left a mark. He put a hand on her chest and pushed her back against the opposite counter, still smiling, his mind and body crazy with desire for more pain, and anger.

[Orange Diren]

Orange let out a grunt as she felt him push her away. When she felt her back against the counter she let out a low laugh that was more sexual than anything.

"I'm surprised you know I like it rough." She licked her lips and pushed the knife against his wifebeater and slashed it, seeing his belly button and tight stomach, something she had thought about a lot.

"I'd pay your credits just to see if you still had that fire inside of you. I'm not gonna lie, you were good, Taro, and very good at what you did. I guess some people think age doesn't matter, like you did with me, and I suppose Jesimae is the type that thinks size doesn't matter." She winked at him and pushed him away.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro looked down at his now ruined wife beater and chucked any thread of sanity he had up to this point. He peeled the shirt off of himself, sweat causing his chest and face to shimmer slightly. He discarded the shirt on the floor. After this was over, Orange owed him a new shirt. He looked back up at her as he pulled his hair back and bent at the knees slightly. He went at her, ramming her back against the wall putting the tip of the knife at her left ear and jaw, pinning her knife hand against the wall as well. He chuckled at her.

"Well if size didn't matter, than neither did experiance. Sorry to say, but you're at the bottom of my list of people to do again," he growled, pressing his knife hard against her jaw and slicing it. He looked at the wound, expecting to see a bloodless scratch. Instead, he saw a thin line of blood appearing there.

And suddenly, his anger, and sexually stimulated high disappeared. He felt as if he had been dropped off of a very high building. His stomach hit the floor as he stumbled backwards, holding his hands up as if protecting himself from something that was coming at him. He looked from the wound on her neck to Orange's face, his eyes finding hers, as he felt the blood rush from his head so fast he felt dizzy.

He hadn't been in that state of mind for years. That state of mind that caused him to feed off of fear, off of anger. He had not felt so hot, and stimulated by a fight in so long. He clenched his jaw and swallowed hard, sweat slipping down his face. How could he have slipped so easily back into it?

Without a word, he dropped the knife and it clattered to the ground as he continued to stare at Orange, disbelief coursing through him. What kind of an animal was he?

[Orange Diren]

Orange watched him peel off his shirt slightly appeased and annoyed. She was enjoying this little fight but something began to feel wrong all of a sudden. This had started out serious and all it seemed to be now was just a way to take cheap shots at one another. She was two seconds away from asking him if she was getting a free strip show, but didn’t when she watched him charge at her. He pinned her against the wall and suddenly her stomach bottomed out, somehow this wasn’t fun, or funny, anymore. The knife he held at her throat slit into her skin and she clenched her jaw unable to speak through the pain she wasn’t expecting. Her eyes grew wide as she stared into his eyes.

"Well if size didn't matter, than neither did experiance. Sorry to say, but you're at the bottom of my list of people to do again.” Orange held her breath as she stared at him. He was cutting her! She suddenly felt defeated and as if she had taken this knife fight differently. She had enjoyed it for the rush and excitement, hell she was even enjoying talking with Taro and playing around, but this wasn’t playing this was serious!

Orange wanted to scream for him to stop and in her mind she was truly horrified at the situation, he was two seconds away from slitting her throat!! Before she could tell him to get away from her, that she was done playing, that he won, that she was sorry, that she would never touch anyone again...his face suddenly changed as if he were surprised by his own actions.

Orange watched him back away and she suddenly let out the air she had held inside. She took a deep breath inwards and closed her eyes, panting as if she had ran miles and miles. When she opened them she saw Taro drop the knife. She jumped at the sound. Orange was a small girl, but she had street smarts and could fight as good as any man, if not better! She had fought people much larger and more dangerous than Taro, but for the first time in her life she had never been so scared! A moment ago she was having fun, playing with a dangerous weapon, using her experience to chaff the skin and get out aggression, but now this was sheer horror.

Orange looked down at her own knife and threw it over to the sink and watched it bounce lively and stop on the counter after it bounced out of the metal tub. She quickly touched her neck where she felt it stinging and hurting, a pain she hadn’t felt in a long time. She frowned and looked at her hand to see it covered in blood. She lifted her eyes to meet Taro’s.

“Taro, Jesus!” She moved off the wall and over to the small towel rack and grabbed the only one hanging and quickly pushed it against her neck. “I didn’t think you were really gonna draw blood!” She was wanting to ask him if he was crazy, but could tell by his face that he was in shock of what he had done. She let out a sigh of relief that this was now over. Orange glanced at the counter and shook her head as she continued to wipe and apply pressure. She laughed and looked at him.

“You’ve got some great moves, Taro.” She suddenly felt herself coming down from her high, a wound that bled somehow having that effect. “Next time I think I’ll opt for a pillow fight.” She joked as she glanced down at the towel, she sighed out seeing there was a lot of it, but she somehow knew that this wasn’t life threatening. She glanced over at Taro, a little bit surprised by his silence. When her eyes found him he was sweating, the color of his skin was gone, and he was barely breathing. She frowned and held out her left hand.

“Taro?” She asked as tossed the towel on the counter with her right hand. “Babe, are you all right?” She let that ‘babe’ part slip out, old habits dying hard. She ignored it somehow that not really mattering.

“It’s okay! It is just a hairline scratch! There is a lot of blood simply because your face and neck have a lot of tiny vessels. It will heal in two days.” She gave him a crooked grin and waved a hand at him, trying to make him understand that it was nothing, but he was still silent. Orange swallowed the fear in her throat and frowned.

“Taro!” She said his name louder, but his glance was unfaltering. “Taro for Chrissakes! Say something you are scaring me!”

[Taro Lawson]

Taro shook his head at her and gulped several times as if her were about to vomit. But all he was trying to ease was the clenching pain and fear in his chest. He had not felt like that in so long, he was terrified that he could have slid back into those feelings so quickly. He could remember the times he got so turned on by fighting, by fear, by anger, by blood. But he thought he had left it all behind! Thought he had gotten over it after...

He had gone at Jiro the same way. He had held the knife to his little brother's throat, had slashed him in almost the exact place that he had cut Orange. Had almost killed him. Taro's stomach was churning and he could take his eyes off of Orange's small, but still bleeding wound. The fear was growing in his chest, taking over his windpipes, causing him to pant for breath. He had to calm down. He may have been clean for a few years, but his drug abused lungs couldn't take much gasping and yelling.

Taro stumbled back to the door, his eyes finally finding Orange's and he shook his head again, working his jaw as he chewed on his tongue, trying to wet it again, but his mouth was so dry. He made a noise as if he were about to say something, but put a hand over his mouth and turned walking out the door and down the hall, his knees and hands shaking so badly he could barely stand upright.

What sort of horrible animal lived inside of him? Was it the same one he thought he had tamed?

[Orange Diren]

Orange watched him in sheer terror the way he was acting was making her nervous, even more so than she already felt. What the hell was wrong with Taro? Why was he acting like he had just done something horrific. It was just a little cut, it would literally heal in two days and never leave a mark, after all she had been hurt worse before.

"Taro?" She watched him walk out of the kitchen and it took every muscle in her body to stay put and let him deal with whatever was wrong with him alone, but that only lasted a few minutes.

Orange jogged after him and noticed he had already dissappeared, but she heard him in the cockpit. She turned and walked towards the bright room that was lit up from the colored panel and switches. "Taro?" She said lowly afraid of being too loud. She saw him sitting in a chair with his head in his hands, something had happened to him when he had cut her and she needed to know why he was acting so odd.

"Taro are you all right?" She swallowed the fear down in her stomach and walked inside and held her breath when she looked down at his sweaty back. "Look, I'm sorry for fighting with you. I didn't mean for one of us to get hurt. Is that why you are acting funny?"

[Taro Lawson]

"NO!" Taro snarled, standing straight up to look down on her. He put a hand back over his mouth and dropped back into his seat, his head still spinning. He hadn't meant to do that. Hadn't meant to say it like, hadn;t meant for any of this to happen. but it had, and it wasn't Orange's fault. He took a deep, shuddering breath.

"I'm sorry..." he said barely above a whisper. Orange didn't understand what was going on. To her it had all been a simple anger management session, and then he freaks out on her. He would have done the same thing. Taro shook his head, wiping his brow clean of sweat before glancing over at her, avoiding her eyes as he stood. He nodded down at her.

"Yeah. That's why I'm acting funny..." he lied in a murmur. "I'll be fine."

[Orange Diren]

Orange jumped at his sudden anger. She was seriously freaked out now, but she was going to continue till she got the truth. "Taro, you are not a good liar." She said in a sigh as she touched his arm and raised her eyebrows, looking into his eyes and forcing him to make eye contact.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Taro, because you are really freaking me out."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro shook his head again as his eyes continued to look at the cut on her neck just under her left ear. The same place almost that his brother had a scar from the time he had come at him with a knife. Taro couldn't believed himself, couldn't believe any of this. He passed his hand across his eyes.

"It's really just nothing," he lied again. "I'm just...fine...I'm okay..." he said as if trying to convince himself of that fact.